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I  LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY   OF 
CALIFORNIA       J 


PRELIMINARY  REPORT 


OX    THE 


NATURAL  HISTORY 


OF    THE 


STATE   OF    VERMONT 


BY   AUGUSTUS  YOUNG; 

STATLJ    NATURALIST. 


DOCUMENTS  KPA.tTM 
FEB   I.'- 


*RY 

u 

BURLINGTON: 
C  H  A  U  N  G  E.Y    G  0  0  I)  II  I  0  IT. 

185G-. 


. 


810LOG* 
L1BRARV 


IN  SENATE,  Oct.  23,  1856. 
Referred  to  the  Committee  under  the  4th  Joint  Rule. 


IN  SENATE,  Oct.  23,  1856. 

Reported.  Ordered  to  lie — and  that  the  Secretary  procure 
one  thousand  copies  to  be  printed  for  the  use  of  the  General 
Assembly. 


257 


REPORT. 


To  His  Excellency. 

EYLAND   FLETCHER, 

Governor  of  the  State  of  Vermont  : — 

SIR  :  On  the  twenty-ninth  day  of  February,  1856,  I  had  the 
honor  of  receiving  from  His  Excellency  GOVERNOR  ROYCE  the 
appointment  of  State  Naturalist,  to  supply,  until  the  next  session 
of  the  General  Assembly,  the  office  which  was  rendered  vacant  by 
the  death*  of  Professor  Zadock  Thompson. 

Conscious  that  my  present  position  is  more  attributable  to  the 
generous  hopes  of  your  predecessor  than  to  any  merits  of  my  own, 
I  hesitated  awhile,  by  reason  of  failing  health,  to  assume  upon  my 
self  its  weighty  cares.  Having,  however,  for  many  years  devoted 
a  portion  of  my  time,  and  all  of  my  leisure  hours,  to  the  study  of 
Natural  History,  and  especially  of  my  native  State,  and  become 
somewhat  familiar  with  the  physical  resources  of  Vermont,  and 
feeling  anxious  that  the  work,  in  which  Professor  THOMPSON  was 
engaged  at  the  time  of  his  death,  should  be  prosecuted  to  its  com 
pletion  without  interruption,  I  ventured,  not  however  without 
some  misgivings,  to  take  upon  myself  the  burden  of  its  duties. 

As  soon,  therefore,  as  circumstances  and  a  proper  regard  for 
the  feelings  of  the  family  of  my  deceased  friend  would  justify  my 
so  doing,  I  commenced  my  official  service,  and  in  due  time,  made  a 
careful  examination  of  the  progress  which  had  been  made  by  my 
predecessors  towards  a  "  thorough  prosecution  and  completion  of 
the  Geological  Survey/' 

The  first  object  of  my  enquiry  was  to  ascertain  the  requirements 
of  the  Stsuutc.s  authorizing  a  Geological  Survey  of  the  State  \  and 

*  fc-te  Appendix  Nh.  'L 


6 

I  found  that  to  the  history  of  the  legislation  of  Vermont  on  this 
subject  is  attached  no  want  of  interest.  The  matter  of  a  Geolo^i- 
cal  Survey  of  Vermont  was  first  brought  to  the  consideration  of  the 
General  Assembly  during  the  administration  of  Gov.  Jenison,  in 
1836,  and  in  the  following  year  (October  session,  1837,)  the  sub 
ject  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Education,  in  whose  behalf 
the  late  Gov.  Eaton  submitted  to  the  Senate  a  carefully  prepared 
report,*  accompanied  by  able  and  important  documents.  Although 
the  subject  was  discussed  at  each  succeeding  session  of  the  Gener 
al  Assembly,  the  first  Act  was  not  passed  until  October,  A.  D. 
1844,t  and  the  second  act  received  the  executive  sanction  in  De 
cember,  1853 1 — the  one  making  provision  for  the  Survey,  r.nd  the 
other  providing  for  its  completion. 

The  duties  devolving  upon  the  State  Geologist,  by  virtue  of  the 
Act  of  1844,  are  clearly  set  forth  in  the  third  section  of  said  Act, 
and  are  as  follow  :  "  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  State  Geologist, 
as  soon  as  practicable,  to  commence  and  prosecute  a  thorough 
Geological  Survey  of  the  State,  embracing  therein  a  full  and  scien 
tific  examination  and  description  of  the  rocks,  soils,  metals  and 
minerals  ;  make  careful  and  complete  assays  and  analyses  of  the 
same ;  and  annually,  on  before  the  first  day  of  October,  to  report 
to  the  Governor  the  progress  of  the  work,  the  most  efficient  and 
economical  manner  of  conducting  it,  and  an  estimate  of  the  ex 
pense  for  the  ensuing  year/'t 

By  virtue  of  this  Act,  Gov.  Slade  appointed,  as  State  Geologist, 
Professor  Charles  B.  Adams,  at  that  time  Professor  of  Chemistry 
and  Natural  History  in  Middlebury  College,  who  entered  upon  his 
duties  on  the  first  day  of  March,  1845,  and  who  made  four  annual 
reports  upon  the  Survey  indicating  its  advancement,  which  reports 
were  duly  submitted  by  the  Governor  to  the  General  Assembly, 
and  printed  and  distributed  among  the  people.  The  Legislature 
having  made  no  provision  for  embodying  the  facts  which  were 
gathered  during  the  three  years  of  the  Survey  in  a  systematic 
report,  and  having  failed  to  make  any  appropriation  for  a  con 
tinuance  of  the  work,  the  Survey  was  suspended— the  manu 
scripts,  field-books  and  specimens  being  locked  up  in  about  fifty 

*  See  Appendix  No.  5. 
f  See  Append  x  No.  2. 
$  Sec  Appendix  No.  3. 


boxes,  and  in  that  plight,  remaining  at  Burlington  and  Mont- 
pel  ier.* 

In  1848,  the  General  Assembly  passed  a  Joint  Resolution  pro 
viding  for  the  preservation  of  the  materials  for  completing  the 
Geological  Survey,  as  follows  :  "Resolved  by  the  Senate  and 
House  of  Representatives,  That  all  collections  of  minerals,  field- 
notes,  and  all  preparations  and  materials  amassed  by  the  State 
Geologist  for  a  final  report  upon  the  Geological  Survey,  be  brought 
together  by  some  suitable  person  to  be  appointed  by  the  Governor5 
and  be  deposited  in  the  State  House,  under  the  care  of  the  State 
Librarian,  that  nothing  may  be  lost,  and  that  the  State  may  have 
the  benefit  of  these  collections,  whenever  the  State  sh^ll  deem  it 
expedient  to  "  prosecute  the  Survey  to  completion. "t 

Governor  Coolidge  commissioned  Professor  Zadock  Thompson 
to  carry  into  effect  the  foregoing  resolution,  whose  report,  under 
date  of  October  llth,  1849,  is  respectfully  referred  to  and  made  a 
part  of  this  communication.* 

A  final  Geological  Report,  embracing  the  entire  results  of  his 
labors  and  those  of  his  Assistants,  was  never  made  by  Prof.  Ad 
ams,  and  on  the  nineteenth  day  of  January,  1853,  he  died  on  the 
Island  of  St.  Thomas,  West  Indies,  summoned  hence  in  the  prime 
of  his  life  and  usefulness. 

In  the  month  of  October,  following  the  decease  of  Prof.  C.  B. 
Adams,  the  General  Assembly  passed  "An  Act  to  provide  for 
completing  the  Geological  Survey  of  the  State,"  in  and  by  which 
Prof.  Zadock  Thompson  was  appointed  State  Naturalist,  with  the 
following  duties :  "  to  enter  as  soon  as  practicable  upon  a  thorough 
prosecution  and  completion  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  the  State, 
embracing  therein  a  full  and  scientific  examination  and  descrip 
tion  of  its  rocks,  soils,  metals  and  minerals  ;  make  careful  and 
complete  assays  and  analyses  of  the  same ;  and  prepare  the  results 
of  his  labors  for  publication,  under  the  three  following  titles,  to 
wit: 

First — Physical  Geography,  Scientific  Geology,  and  Mineral 
ogy- 

Second,  Economical  Geology,  embracing  Botany  and  Agricul 
ture. 


*See  Appendix  No.  4. 

fSee  Session  Laws,  1848.  p.  36,  No.  53. 


Third.— General  Zoology  of  the  State.*" 

It  will  be  noticed,  upon  comparison,  that  so  far  as  regards  Phys 
ical  Geography,  Scientific  and  Economical  Geology  and  the  con 
comitant  science  of  Mineralogy,  the  Statutes  of  1844  and  1853 
imposed  similar  duties  upon  the  State  Geologist  and  State  Natu 
ralist — to  which  there  can  be,  probably,  no  well-planted  objection 
except  to  that  requirement  by  which  he  is  expected  to  make  "care 
ful  and  complete  analyses  of  soils  "  with  a  view  to  a  special  appli 
cation  of  Geology  to  Agriculture.  Upon  the  doubtful  utility  of 
this  requirement,  1  propose  to  ofler  some  remarks  in  their  proper 
place. 

By  the  act  of  1853,  Botany  and  the  General  Zoology  of  the  State 
are  added  to  the  previous  act  of  1844,  thereby  obviously  contem 
plating  a  complete  Natural  History  of  Vermont,  in  three  parts  or 
subdivisions — a  design  which,  if  Providence  had  permitted  Prof. 
Thompson  to  carry  out  to  completion,  would  have  possibly 
surpassed  any  thing  of  the  kind  in  any  of  our  sister  States.  It 
was  one  of  Professor  Thompson's  most  ardent  earthly  aspirations 
that  he  might  be  allowed  to  present  to  the  world  in  an  entire, 
well-planned  and  well-executed  work,  the  Physical  Geography, 
and  Natural  History  of  his  native  State  ;  and  from  the  liberal 
Views  which  prompted  the  passage  of  the  act  of  1653  it  is  obvious 
that  a  like  laudable  feeling  and  ambition  pervaded  the  General 
Assembly.  But  in  the  death  of  Professor  Thompson  such  ex 
pectations  have  been  disappointed  ;  arid  we  may  be  compelled  to 
satisfy  ourselves  with  or  rather  to  submit  to  such  a  Geological 
Survey  as  has,  in  general,  been  satisfactory  to  different  States  in 
our  Union,  consisting  of  carefully  prepared  and  arranged  reports 
upon  the  Natural  History  of  Vermont.  It  is  no  disparagement 
to  any  living  Naturalist  or  Geologist  to  express  a  doubt  whether 
for  many  years  to  come  there  will  be  found  among  us  another  gen 
tleman  so  ardent  in  his  feelings  upon  the  subject,  or  so  well  fitted 
by  life-long  series  of  observations  and  scientific  examinations,  to 
execute  on  behalf  of  the  State  a  task  ot  such  magnitude  and  im 
portance  as  was  the  late  and  highly  gifted  State  Naturalist,  Pro. 
lessor  Zadock  Thompson. 

We  may,  however,  gather  consolation  in  the  fact  that  so  fur  as 

*  Sec  .Appendix  No-  3. 


9 

the  Zoology  and  Botany  of  Vermont  are  concerned,  we  have  the 
results  of  the  unwearied  explorations  and  observations  of  Prof. 
Thompson,  embodied  in  his  Natural  History  of  Vermont  which 
was  published  in  October  1842,  and,  beside  this,  we  have  record 
of  his  more  recent  and  matu:e  labors  embraced  in  an  Appendix  to 
his  History  of  Vermont  which  was  published  by  him  in  a  small 
volume  of  sixty  four  pages,  in  April,  1853 — five  years  after  the 
Geological  Survey,  under  Professor  Charles  B.  Adams  as  chief 
ond  Messrs  S.  R.  Hall  of  Craftsbury  and  Zadock  Thompson  of 
Burlington,  as  assistants,  had  been  suspended, 

It  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  if  Professor  Thompson  had 
been  permitted  to  live  and  finish  the  work  which  the  Legislature 
had  commissioned  him  to  perform,  valuable  additions  would  have 
been  made  to  his  botanical  catalogue  as  printed  in  his  History  and 
Appendix,  and  undoubtedly  many  plants  would  have  been  discover 
ed  nnd  zoological  discoveries  made  to  reward  his  patient  and  enter 
prising  research.  Such  plants  and  animals — however  small  or 
insignificant — are  by  no  means  unworthy  the  study  or  beneath  the 
notice  of  any  scientific  enquirer  :  but  it  may  be  seriously  ques 
tioned  whether,  since  Professor  Thompson,  upon  whom  especial 
reliance  was  placed  nnd  in  whom  the  hopes  of  the  State  centred, 
is  «lead  and  no  longer  able  to  answer  the  expectations  which  a 
grateful  people  indulged,  the  General  Assembly  would  authorize 
or  justify  the  expense  which  is  incident  to  the  compilation  and 
publication  of  those  parts  of  the  Natural  History  of  the  State 
which  comprised  the  departments  of  Botany  and  Zoology — even 
upon  a  reasonable  assurance  that  such  a  work  would  not  be  in  any 
wise  slighted  in  the  hands  of  others  than  those  for  whom  it  was 
designed.  Apart  from  this  consideration  I  have  thus  far  been 
unable  to  ascertain  that  subsequent  to  his  appointment  as  State 
Naturalist  in  October  1853,  he  had  been  subjected  to  any  consider 
able  expense  in  preparing  materials  for  the  publication  of  the  se 
cond  and  third  volumes  of  the  Natural  History  of  the  State,  as 
contemplated  by  the  Statute  of  1853.  His  attention  had  been 
chiefly  bestowed  upon  a  preparation  for  publication  of  a  volume 
relating  to  the  Physical  Geography,  Scientific  Geology  and  Min 
eralogy  of  Vermont. 

It  may  be  possible  that  the  materials  already  collected  and  pre 
pared  by  Professor  Thompson  would  have  been  sufficient  to  en- 


10 

able  him  to  compile  the  three  volumes  contemplated  by  the  act 
of  1853  by  the  addition  of  such  extracts  from  his  published  works 
as  may  have  been  appropriate  ;  but  it  may  admit  of  some  doubt 
whether  any  other  person  would  be  justified  in  making  use  of  the 
same  printed  matter  for  the  same  purpose.  The  fact  has  been 
communicated  to  me  that  a  large  edition  of  his  Natural,  Civil  and 
Statistical  History  of  Vermont  yet  remains  unsold,  and  I  am  un 
willing  to  believe  that  inasmuch  as  his  literary  and  scientific  works 
constituted  the  chief  legacy  to  his  wife  and  family,  any  one  wrould 
suggest  or  recommend  any  measure  tending  to  lessen  the  sale  of 
his  valuable  books  or  infringe  upon  the  copy-right  in  which  his 
family  must  feel  no  slight  interest.  If  however,  the  widow  and 
heirs  of  the  late  State  Naturalist  can  be  induced  to  waive  their 
right  and  interpose  no  objection  to  a  judicious  use  of  that  part  of 
Professor  Thompson's  history  which  relates  to  the  Natural  His 
tory  of  the  State,  then  there  would  remain  no  obstacle  or  objec 
tion  in  the  way  of  using  all  of  the  labors  of  the  late  State  Natu 
ralist  in  carrying  out  the  plan  contemplated  by  the  act  of  1853. 
Under  these  circumstances  and  influenced  by  the  considerations 
which  I  have  briefly  mentioned  I  have  esteemed  it  to  be  my  duty 
for  the  present  and  until  these  suggestions  are  communicated  to 
the  Legislature,  to  forbear  any  attempts  to  collect  or  arrange  ma 
terials  for  the  Botanical  and  Zoological  compartments  of  the  pro 
posed  work,  and  have  confined  my  labors  and  restricted  my  enquir 
ies  to  those  matters  which  relate  more  particularly  to  the  Geolog 
ical  department  in  connection  with  Mineralogy. 

My  predecessor,  Professor  Thompson,  at  the  time  of  hisxleath 
had  for  causes  to  which  I  shall  hereafter  particularly  advert,  made 
but  slight  progress  in  preparing  his  reports  for  publication.  I 
find,  however,  among  the  great  number  of  papers,  and  collection 
of  matter  from  which  the  materials  for  his  final  reports  were  to 
be  drawn,  a  programme  of  his  contemplated  work  contained  in  three 
small  pamphlets  in  manuscript*  executed  in  his  remarkably  neat 
and  methodical  manner,  purporting  to  present  the  title-pages  and 
tables  of  contents  of  the  three  proposed  volumes.  Each  volume 
was  entitled"  Natural  History  of  Vermont " — the  first  being  devot 
ed  to  Geology ;  the  second  to  Botany  ;  and  the  third  to  Zoology.* 
The  contents  of  the  first  volume  were  divided  into  four  parts,  viz : 

.    *  See  Appendix  No.  9, 


11 

Scenograpliic  Geology — Scientific  Geology — Mineralogy  and 
Economical  Geology — all  constituting  in  my  judgment,  an  excel 
lent  and  most  comprehensive  programme  :  and,  perhaps,  no  better 
and  more  methodical  table  of  contents  on  the  Geology  of  the  State 
could  be  devised.  The  contents  under  the  head  or  title  of  Sceno- 
graphicGeology  relate  to  the  aspect  of  the  country,Mountains,  Hills 
Watersheds,  Valleys,  Chasms,  Caves,  Springs,  Streams,  Ponds, 
Lakes,  Swamps.  On  these  subjects  Professor  Thompson  has  left 
a  few  pages  in  manuscript  carefully  enveloped  as  if  prepared  for 
the  press  :  but  aside  from  these  papers  I  have  been  unable  to  dis 
cover  many  traces  of  his  progress  in  writing  out  the  proposed 
work  for  publication. 

I  have  deemed  it  proper  and  incumbent  upon  me  to  allude  to 
these  facts  in  order  to  present  a  correct  view  of  the  present  con 
dition  of  the  Geological  Survey.  Should  it  be  thought  advisable 
to  postpone  for  the  present  further  labors  in  the  department  of 
Botany  and  Zoology,  it  seems  as  if  the  materials  already  acquired 
together  with  such  as  may  be  obtained  or  prepared  at  a  moderate 
expense  n  ight  enable  some  competent  Naturalist  to  arrange  for 
publication  such  a  final  report  of  the  Geological  Survey  as  was 
originally  contemplated  by  the  act  of  1844.  The  expense  of  such 
a  report  would  be  inconsiderable  as  compared  with  the  benefits 
which  would  accrue,  provided  the  analyses  of  the  different  soils 
of  the  State  were  dispensed  with. 

With  regard  to  the  chemical  analyses  of  soils  I  would  suggest 
that  in  order  to  have  them  of  practical  use  or  of  scientific  interest 
they  should  be  made  with  extreme  care  and  thoroughness  and 
must,  of  necessity,  involve  greater  expense  than  their  very  doubt 
ful  utility  to  the  agricultural  interest  of  the  State  would  warrant.. 

The  agricultural  interest  of  a  State  is  greatly  paramount  to  any 
other  and,  in  fact,  to  all  other  interests  combined.  "  To  subdue 
the  earth,"  to  make  it  perpetually  fruitful  is  the  province  of  agri 
culture  and  he  must  be  a  public  benefactor  who  can  discover  some, 
special  means  whereby  the  farmers  of  Vermont  are  enabled  to  in 
crease  their  profits  and  diminish  their  labors,  and  he  is  doing  the 
State  some  service  who  can  induce  the  farming  interest  to  adopt 
the  best  mode  of  preparing  the  soil  and  putting  it  to  the  most  prof 
itable  use  and  to  dispose  of  its  products  most  advantageously  to 
the  soil  and  its  owner  :  for  thereby  he  advances  the  intelligence. 


12 

and  promotes  the  happiness  of  those  who  pursue  a  delightful  but 
necessarily  laborious  calling.  I  owe  it  to  candor  to  express  my 
doubt  whether  any  Geologist  however  skillful  or  Naturalist  how 
ever  learned  or  scientific,  can,  by  traversing  the  State,  collecting 
and  arranging  statistics  of  the  average  crops  and  calling  the  at 
tention  of  farmers,  to  the  well-known  deposits  of  marl,  muck,  lime 
&c.,  in  their  respective  vicinities,  succeed  in  supplying  the  place 
of  intelligent  enquiry  and  careful  observation  in  an  enlightened 
farming  community.  There  is  no  royal  road  to  the  successful  pur 
suit  of  Agriculture  any  more  than  to  any  branch  of  domestic  in 
dustry  or  department  of  science. 

In  regard  to  the  chemical  analysis  of  soils  arid  some  of  the 
requisites  of  a  valuable  analysis  I  propose  to  offer  a  few  remarks. 
A  plant  derives  the  principal  part  of  its  sustenance  from  the  soil. 
The  soil  must  contain  certain  fertilizing  elements  in  due  propor 
tions  to  secure  the  perfect  growth  of  the  plant.  If  the  soil  be 
deficient  in  one  or  more  of  these  essential  elements,  chemical  anal 
ysis  can  detect  the  cause  of  the  evil  and  point  out  the  remedy 
"But,"  says  Dr.  John  D.  Easter,  "  the  growth  of  plants  is  influ 
enced  by  a  multitude  of  other  circumstances  to  which  chemical 
analysis  can  furnish  no  clue,  a  soil  may  abound  in  all  the  elements 
of  a  very  fertile  one  and  yet  be  perfectly  barren.  The  soil  of  the 
great  Colorado  desert  in  California,  which  I  have  recently  anal 
ysed,  furnishes  a  good  example  of  this.  It  possesses  in  abundance 
every  element  necessary  to  extreme  fertility,  but  is  entirely  barren 
from  the  want  of  water. 

The  reverse  of  this  also  frequently  occurs.  The  chemist  re 
ceives  a  specimen  of  the  soil,  in  the  chemical  constitution  of  which 
he  can  detect  no  deficiency,  and  in  his  laboratory,  he  can  assign  no 
cause  for  its  alleged  unproductiveness.  An  examination  of  the  lo 
cality  probably  shows  him  that  it  is  underlaid  by  a  stiff,  tenacious 
sub-soil,  which  retains  an  excess  of  watei\  and  no  provision  has 
been  made  for  drainage. 

The  difference  in  the  mechanical  texture  of  stiff  and  loose  soils 
is  familiar  to  every  one.  The  fertility  of  many  stiff  clays  may  be 
seriously  impaired  by  ploughing  too  wet,  rendering  them  tough 
and  impenetrable  to  the  tender  rootlets  of  plants.  In  this  case,  as 
no  chemical  change  takes  place,  the  chemist  in  his  laboratory  would 
seek  in  vain  for  the  cause  of  the  difficulty. 


13 

Every  attempt  to  improve  the  character  of  the  soil  must,  there 
fore,  be  preceded  by  a  judicious  consideration  of  its  mechanical 
texture,  its  power  of  absorbing  and  retaining  water,  and  its  capa 
city  for  heat.  Hence  it  is  important  that  the  agricultural  chemist 
should,  if  possible,  himself  examine  the  locality  in  order  fully  to 
estimate  the  wants  of  the  soil.  The  employment  by  every  State 
of  an  agricultural  chemist,  who  should  visit  in  person  every  part 
of  the  State,  is  therefore,  strongly  to  be  recommended. 

In  the  next  place  it  is  requisite  that  an  analysis  of  the  soil,  in 
order  to  be  of  much  value  should  be  thorough.  It  must  include  sepa 
rate  estimations  of  the  parts  soluble  in  water  and  in  acids,  and  the 
insoluble  portion.  For  the  portion  soluble  in  water  represents 
what  is  available  for  the  wants  of  the  growing  crop,  while  the  por 
tion  soluble  in  dilute  acids,  is  the  index  of  what  may  by  decomposi 
tion  become  the  food  of  plants.  This  undecomposed  portion  of  the 
soil  may  often,  by  the  application  of  lime,  ashes  and  other  caustic 
manures,  be  more  speedily  decomposed  and  rendered  available. 

The  analysis  should  include  also,  if  possible,  the  sub-soil  as 
well  as  the  surface  soil,  in  order  to  guide  the  former  in  the  process 
of  deepening  his  soil.  There  are,  of  late,  many  advocates  of  indis 
criminate  deep  ploughing.  But  a  fertile  soil  may  be  underlaid  by 
a  barren  sub-soil,  by  throwing  up  large  quantities  of  which  the 
fertility  of  a  field  may  be  destroyed  for  years.  The  subsoil,  not 
unfrequently.  contains  large  quantities  of  protoxide  of  iron  and 
other  substances  which  are  not  injurious  to  vegetation  until  they 
have  been  subjected  to  the  action  of  the  atmosphere.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  subsoil  often  contains  elements  of  fertility  which  are  not 
so  abundant  in  the  surface  soil,  in  which  case  deep  ploughing  will 
improve  both.  It  is  important  that  the  agriculturist  should  know 
these  differences,  in  order  that  he  may  know  where  he  should 
plough  deep  and  where  refrain. 

A  still  more  important  consideration  is,  that  no  analysis  can 
be  of  any  value  to  the  farmer  who  is  not  himself  a  chemist,  unless 
it  be  accompanied  by  a  discussion  of  the  indications  it  affords,  and 
a  recommendation  of  suitable  means  of  improvement.  Our  agri 
cultural  journals  and  reports  abound  in  analyses  which  are  about 
as  intelligible  to  the  unscientific  farmer  as  the  inscriptions  on  the 
pyramids,  or  a  chapter  from  La  Place's  Mechanique  Celeste. 
Most  of  our  intelligent  farmers  know  that  lime,  phosphoric  acid, 


14 

and  the  alkalies,  play  important  parts  in  the  economy  of  vegetation, 
but  few  of  them  have  any  idea  how  much  of  these  valuable  ingredi 
ents  is  requisite  to  fertility,  or  what  are  the  best  means  of  supply 
ing  their  deficiency.  Until  every  farmer  is  also  a  chemist,  an  an 
alysis  of  a  soil  or  manure  which  is  not  followed  by  a  commentary 
on  its  defects  or  virtues,  leaves  him  just  where  the  diagnosis  of  a 
disease,  without  a  prescription  for  its  relief,  leaves  the  patient. 
He  is  no  wiser  nor  better  off  than  before.  It  will  not  do  to  presume 
that  when  the  chemist  pronounces  what  a  soil  contains,  the  agri 
culturist  will  know  what  it  ought  to  contain,  and  how  to  supply  its 
wants.  Every  farmer  should  insist  upon  an  interpretation  of  the 
analysis  furnished  him  by  the  chemist."* 

In  regard  to  the  benefits  to  be  derived  by  the  agricultural  inter 
est  from  chemical  analyses  of  soils,  I  beg  leave  to  quote  from 
published  letters  written  by  President  Hitchcock  of  Amherst  College 
and  by  Prof.  Benjamin  Silliman,  Jun.  of  Yale  College,  New  Haven, 
Connecticut. 

President  Hitchcock  in  a  lettert  to  our  first  State  Geologist  says  : 
"  I  should  not  think  it  strange  if  some  should  be  disappointed,  as 
they  have  been  in  other  States,  by  anticipating  too  much  from  the 
mere  analyses  of  soils.  The  impression  is  very  strong  through 
the  community  that  the  chemist,  by  such  an  analysis,  can  determine 
what  is  wanting  to  render  a  soil  fertile  or  what  renders  it  barren. 
Now  even  admitting  that  he  could  do  this,  an  analysis  of  the  soil  from 
almost  every  farm  in  the  State,  nay,  from  almost  every  field,  would 
be  necessary  to  make  it  of  much  value;  and  it  is  not  generally 
known  that  every  such  analysis,  accurate  enough  for  this  purpose^ 
could  not  consume  less  than  two  or  three  weeks.  But  I  do  not  be 
lieve  that  agricultural  chemistry  is  yet  far  advanced  enough  to  en 
able  the  chemist  to  say  in  many  cases  what  ingredient  added  will 
be  sure  to  render  a  barren  soil  prolific  ;  although  it  is  more  easy  to 
detect  hurtful  ingredients.  But  the  analysis  of  some  of  the 
prevailing  soils  of  the  State  (for  example  those  from  the  limestone, 
mica  slate,  gneiss  and  and  argillaceous  slate  regions,)  will  enable 
you  to  make  suggestions  that  may  be  of  great  use." 

Professor  Silliman,  Jr.,  in  his  correspondence!  with  Professor 

*  See  Appendix  No  10. 

•f-See  First  annual  Report  on  the  Geology  of  the  State  of  Vermont  by  Prof.  Adams, 
pp.  07, 68. 
JSee  Prof.  Adams' Second  Annual  Report  on  the  Geology  of  Vermont,  pp.  202, 263. 


15 

Adams,  makes  the  following  expressive  remarks  :  "  I  hardly  know 
what  answer  to  make  to  your  enquiry  about  the  terms  for  analyz 
ing  one  hundred  specimens  of  soils,  &c.  Our  customary  charge  in 
analysis  has  been  five  dollars  for  every  determination.  This  makes 
a  round  bill,  but  not  more  than  a  fair  quid  pro  quo  for  the  labor  and 
skill  required.  It  is  the  rate  affixed  by  the  joint  agreement  of 
several  chemists.  However  we  always  make  an  abatement  from 
it  in  case  of  many  analyses  of  the  same  sort.  No  doubt,  a  sort  of 
analysis  of  a  soil  may  be  made  for  five  dollars,  all  told,  but  what 
sort  I  will  not  say.  In  my  opinion  the  present  state  of  science 
demands  that  an  analysis  of  a  soil,  to  be  of  any  use  whatever,  must 
be  minute,  and  ought  to  comprise  at  least  ten  separate  determin 
ations,  besides  the  ultimate  analysis  ol  the  whole  mass,  by  alka 
line  fusion,  which  is  useful  as  showing  the  extreme  resource  of  the 
soil.  We  now  think  that  we  must  have — First,  an  analysis  of  the 
matter  soluble  from  the  soil  by  water  alone  ;  Second,  the  amount 
of  the  matters  soluble  in  dilute  hydrochloric  acid;  Third,  the  ul 
timate  analysis  by  fusion,  as  just  suggested;  Ldstlij,  we  ought  to 
know  the  mechanical  condition  of  the  soil,  technically  called  its 
mechanical  analysis,  which  requires  a  series  of  sittings,  washings 
and  weighings,  distinct  from  all  the  preceding.  Going  through  all 
these  numerous  but  essential  steps  on  sixteen  soils  for  *  *  *  *  -\ye 
made  him  a  bill  of  five  hundred  dollars.  The  difference  between 
fertility  and  barrenness  is  comprised  within  such  narrow  limits 
that  only  a  minute  analysis  of  the  sort  I  have  sketched,  can  be  of 
much  use.  Agriculture  gains  nothing  from  any  further  multipli 
cation  of  such  analyses  as  the  bulk  of  those  which  in  past  years 
have  filled  Geological  and  Agricultural  Reports.  We  have  enough 
such  already.  Unless  an  analysis  of  a  soil  can  do  something  more 
than  people  have  hitherto  been  content  with,  the  result  will  soon 
be  that  agriculturists  will,  with  reason,  question  the  utility  of 
chemical  analyses  as  of  any  practical  benefit." 

If  therefore,  the  foregoing  quotations  from  the  pens  of  the  most 
accomplished  geologists  in  the  Union  are  to  be  treated  as  author 
itative  in  the  premises,  any  attempt  to  analyze  the  almost  infinite 
variety  of  soils  in  Vermont  with  a  view  to  subserve  the  agricultu 
ral  interests  of  the  State  would  involve  an  expenditure  which  by 
reason  of  any  accruing  benefit  could  not  perhaps  well  be  justified. 
Thus  the  agricultural  chemistry  of  the  state  is  properly  and  chiefly 


1G 

referred  to  the  observation  and  experience  of  its  intelligent  citi 
zens  and  farmers  who  by  no  means  treat  the  science  of  agricul 
ture  with  disrespect  and  do  not  reject  what  is  called  book-knowl 
edge  on  the  subject  as  contained  in  the  numerous  periodicals  and 
other  works  devoted  to  agriculture  which  are  so  generally  circula 
ted  in  their  midst. 

It  is  not  for  a  moment  to  be  presumed  that  the  intelligent  farm 
ers  of  Vermont  are  wholly  ignorant  of  the  difference  in  the  nature 
and  fertilizing  qualities  of  the  soils  pervading  more  extended 
tracts  or  ranges  of  the  State  and  which  have  been  chiefly  produced 
by  the  disintegration  of  the  different  kinds  of  rocks  which  under 
lie  or  are  in  the  vicinity  of  the  soils  which  have  been  formed  from 
simple  minerals  composing  the  rocks  and  consequently  partake 
more  or  less  of  their  mineral  and  chemical  characters. 

A  general  acquaintance  with  the  different  simple  minerals  and 
their  characters  of  which  these  extensive  ranges  of  rock  are  com 
posed  (and  no  new  chemical  analysis  is  required  for  this  purpose,) 
enables  us  to  get  a  general  but  imperfect  understanding  of  the 
chemical  composition  of  the  soils  which  overlie  or  accompany  them. 
It  may  here  be  remarked  that  those  ranges  of  rocks  and  their  ac 
companying  soils  run  nearly  North  and  South,  and  hence  their  dif 
ference  becomes  very  apparent  in  travelling  East  or  West  across 
the  State.  This  general  difference  in  the  chemical  constituents 
of  the  several  ranges  of  soil  is  doubtless  all  that  was  intended  to 
be  conveyed  by  President  Hitchcock  when  he  says  that  suggestions 
in  regard  to  the  "  prevailing  soils  of  the  State  (for  example 
those  from  the  limestone,  mica  slate,  gneiss  and  argillaceous  slate 
regions,)  may  be  of  great  value."  * 

Aside  from  the  considerations  which  those  quotations  embody 
and  enforce,  it  is  proper  to  add  that  the  commonly  received  opin 
ion  that  the  soils  of  a  country  have  originated  from  the  rocks 
immediately  under  them  is  somewhat  erroneous.  All  soils  are 
derived  from  rocks  broken  or  pulverized  and  so  disseminated  that 
the  ruins  of  one  rock  may  be  supposed  to  be  mixed  with  the  ruins 
of  a  great  many  others.  Every  soil,  therefore,  may  be  regarded 
as  a  mixture  of  many  soils  and  may  be  supposed  to  have  come 
from  many  and  often  from  wide  spread  localities.  "  If  every  par- 

*See  Prof.  Adams'  "First  Annual  Report  on  the  Geology  of  Vermont,"  p.  68. 


IT 

tide  in  a  cubic  foot  of  earth  were  to  be  endowed  with  instinct  and 
were  to  rise  up  and  take  its  departure  for  its  original  rocky  home, 
I  have  no  doubt,"  says  Professor  J.  A.  Nash,  ';  there  would  be  a 
wide  scattering,  and  I  believe  an  extent  of  travel  would  be  shown 
quite  surprising  to  those  who  have  not  reflected  on  the  sub 
ject." 

It  must  be  conceded  therefore,  that  soils  do  not  always  depend 
for  their  composition  or  capabilities  upon  the  rocks  immediately 
underlaying  them.  Soils  usually  come  from  wide-spread  regions 
generally  North  and  North-west  of  their  present  location.  Ver 
mont  soils  however  partake  more  of  the  character  of  the  adjacent 
rocks  than  the  soil  of  any  other  section  of  the  Union.  Under  these 
circumstances  to  which  I  have  alluded  in  very  brief  and,  I  fear,  un 
satisfactory  terms.  I  venture  to  suggest  that  the  further  chemical 
analyses  of  soils  ought  to  be  postponed  until  they  can  be  made  up 
on  a  more  extensive  scale  than  is  contemplated  by  the  existing 
law.  The  time  has  scarcely  yet  arrived  when  the  State  of  Ver 
mont  can  employ  an  agricultural  chemist  to  visit  in  person  every 
part  of  the  State  with  the  view  of  examining  the  dificrent  soils 
and  their  physical  or  mechanical  condition  or  their  climatic  loca 
tion  and  thus  be  enabled  to  make  a  practical  and  scientific  report 
upon  the  chemical  composition  and  fertilizing  elements  of  such 
soils  as  may  be  subjected  to  such  analysis  and  examination. 

But  with  respect  to  both  the  qualitative  and  quantitative  anal 
ysis  of  the  rocks  and  minerals  of  the  State,  there  are  abundant 
and  controlling  reasons  why  this  requirement  of  the  Statute 
should  be  faithfully  observed  by  the  State  Naturalist.  The  min 
eral  wealth  of  Vermont  yet  remains  undeveloped.  To  the  exam 
ination,  description  and  arrangement  of  mineral  substances  already 
known  or  partially  so  ;  to  determining  the  character  of  certain 
rocks  and  minerals  so  as  to  indicate  their  economical  uses  and  to 
prevent  useless  experiments  and  wasteful  expenditures  of  time  and 
money,  have  the  labors  of  my  predecessor  been  to  a  great  degree 
devoted.  Circumstances  to  which  allusion  has  already  been 
made  have  conspired  to  prevent  the  results  of  those  researches 
from  being  hitherto  systematically  arranged  and  presented  to  the 
public  in  such  a  manner  as  to  be  of  the  greatest  practical  benefit 
and  most  scientific  interest. 

There  is  such  a  diversity  of  soils  in  Vermont  as  to  render  the 
3 


18 

Green  Mountain  State  one  of  peculiar  interest.  The  Western  or 
Prairie  States  have  soils  so  similar  in  many  respects  throughout 
their  geographical  limits,  that  an  analysis  of  one  part  may  be  of 
service  in  determining  the  chemical  composititon  of  another,where~ 
as  the  minerals  of  Vermont  are  as  various  as  its  surface  soils,  and  its 
surface  soils  are  so  diversified  as  to  have  challenged  the  attention  of 
admirers  of  the  beautiful  and  picturesque  as  wellas  of  scientific  ob 
servers  for  many  years.  The  extensive  and  inexhaustible  quarries 
of  limestone  and  marble,  serviceable  both  as  objects  of  architectu 
ral  beauty  and  agricultural  utility;  the  beds  of  serpentine  or  verd 
antique  which  so  extensively  abound  in  Roxbury,  Cavendish,  Lud- 
low,  Lowell,  Westfield,  Troy  and  elsewhere ; — the  vast  hills  of 
granite  lying  in  the  eastern  part  of  Vermont,  ranging  from  the 
Provincial  line  of  the  boundary  of  Massachusetts,  which  have  been 
so  advantageously  quarried  for  building  purposes  and  of  whose 
beauty  and  utility  the  State  House  at  Montpelier  is  the  most  im 
posing  exponent ;  the  large  slate  quarries  which  have  been 
wrought  so  extensivelv  and  contributed  so  much  to  the  wealth  of 
Vermont  because  of  their  peculiar  excellence  and  which  appear  to 
be  in  no  wise  inferior  to  the  best  slates  of  Wales  ;  the  iron 
ores  of  various  kinds  which  seem  to  be  inexhaustible  and  extend 
from  the  northern  to  the  southern  limits  of  the  State  and  are 
found  principally  on  the  western  side  of  the  Green  Mountain 
range  ;  the  large  beds  of  manganese  lying  in  Bennington,  Rut 
land  and  Addison  Counties  and  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  in  other 
localities  extending  to  the  Province  of  Canada  and  which  are  of 
such  utility  in  the  manufacture  of  chloride  of  lime,  useful  in 
bleaching  processes  ;  the  beds  of  sulphuret  of  iron  or  copperas 
ore  which  are  situate  in  Strafford,  Corinth,  Shrewsbury  and  other 
places  and  which  under  congressional  protection  have  banished 
foreign  copperas  from  American  markets ;  the  large  beds  of 
steatite  or  soapstone  which  have  been  advantageously  wrought 
in  Grafton,  Bridgewater,  Bethel,  Cavendish,  Moretown,  Water- 
ville,  and  other  parts  of  Eastern  Vermont ;  the  beds  of  porcelain 
clay  in  Monkton  and  other  localities  together  with  fire  clay  of 
which  the  best  fire-bricks  for  furnaces  are  made  ;  the  beds  of 
copper,  lead  ore  and  other  metals — all  these  and  others  which  I 
have  not  mentioned,  render  Vermont  a  most  interesting  field  of 
enquiry  for  the  scientific  and  economical  Naturalist. 


19 

Many  of  the  ores,  metals  and  other  minerals  enumerated  in 
this  report  have  been  carefully  "  assayed"  or  resolved  into  their 
constituent  parts,  and  the  results  of  such  analysis  carefully  noted 
and  preserved.  It  may  be  necessary,  however,  in  view  of  their 
vast  importance  and  utility  to  supply  such  deficiencies  as  may  be 
found  to  exist,  that  the  chemical  analysis  of  each  valuable  metal 
or  mineral  may  be  presented,  in  a  properly  arranged  descriptive 
table  made  convenient  for  the  use  and  reference  of  those  interested 
in  such  important  items  of  intelligence. 

While,  for  reasons  heretofore  given,  the  analyses  of  soils  may 
not  be  practicable,  and  are  of  very  doubtful  general  utility,  there 
can  be  no  limit  to  the  importance  of  an  analysis  of  the  ores,  metals 
and  other  minerals  which  constitute  so  great  an  element  in  the 
wealth  of  the  State.  Jn  fact  its  utility  can  hardly  be  ex 
aggerated. 

While  impressed  with  the  importance  of  a  complete  develop 
ment  of  all  departments  of  the  Natural  History  of  the  State 
which  savor  of  practical  utility,  and  aware  of  and  duly  appre 
ciating  the  natural  and  laudable  wants  and  wishes  of  the  people 
of  Vermont  in  this  particular,  I  am  by  no  means  insensible  to  the 
manifold  attractions  which  our  State  presents  to  the  scientific  or 
theoretical  enquirer.  While  the  geological  surveys  of  New  Hamp 
shire  by  Professor  Charles  T.  Jackson,  of  Massachusetts  by 
President  Edward  Hitchcock,  of  New  York  by  William  W.  Ma 
ther,  Dr.  Ebenezer  Emmons,  Prof.  Gardner  Vanuxem  and  Prof. 
James  Hall,  and  of  the  Province  of  Canada  by  Sir  William  Ed- 
mond  Logan,  have  greatly  tended  to  develope  their  mineral  and 
natural  resources,  it  cannot  be  expected  that  Vermont  will  be 
backward  in  ascertaining  the  extent  and  variety  of  her  internal 
resources.  The  enlightened  policy  which  gave  origin  to  the  ex 
isting  law  providing  for  a  completion  of  the  Geological  Survey 
will  undoubtedly  bear  the  Survey  onward  to  its  proper  consumma 
tion.  Although  the  science  of  Geology  is  yet  in  its  infancy,  and 
the  theories  of  to-day  may  give  place  to  the  more  plausible  theo 
ries  of  to-morrow,  yet  whatever  of  permanent  scientific  interest 
attaches  to  the  Geological  Survey  of  Vermont  ought  to  be  re 
corded  and  presented  to  the  world  so  soon  as  the  Survey  is  com 
pleted  and  the  entire  field  has  been  thoroughly  explored. 

The  objects  of  scientific  interest  in  the  Natural  History  of  Ver- 


20 

mont  are  so  numerous  as  to  have  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
best  naturalists  of  the  world.  There  can  be  no  doubt  but  the 
thorough  completion  of  the  Geological  Survey  will  bring  to  light 
many  valuable  discoveries — valuable  in  the  two-fold  view  of  econ 
omy  and  science.  "  Vermont,"  says  President  Hitchcock,  "  is 
considered  as  the  disputed  ground  in  respect  to  certain  problems 
of  sublime  interest."  The  rock  formations  in  Vermont  are  ex 
ceedingly  complicated  both  in  respect  to  their  mineral  composition 
and  to  their  geological  order  and  age.  While  the  greater  part  of 
the  rocks  exhibit  plains  of  sedimentary  deposit  and  thus  give 
proof  of  an  aqueous  origin,  they  are  also  very  crystalline  in  their 
structure  and  indicate  that  during  some  period  of  their  history 
they  have  been  subjected  to  a  very  powerful  metamorphic  agen 
cy.  The  series  of  rocks  which  are  presented  to  the  eye  are  in 
volved  in  so  great  obscurity  in  regard  to  their  geological  periods 
or  epochs  as  to  have  puzzled  geologists  for  many  years.*  Taking 
into  view  the  adjacent  parts  of  New  York  and  New  Hampshire, 
we  have  three  ranges  of  mountains  nearly  parallel :  the  Adi- 
rondac  on  the  West,  the  White  Mountains  on  the  East  and  the 
Green  Mountains  lying  between  them  separated  from  the  former 
by  the  valley  of  Lake  Champlain,  and  from  the  latter  by  the  val 
ley  of  the  Connecticut  river.  The  Adirondac  and  the  White 
Mountains  differ  entirely  in  their  character  from  the  Green  Moun 
tains,  for  while  the  two  former  consist  principally  of  granite  and 
other  igneous  rocks,  the  latter,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  trap 
dykes  and  a  range  of  serpentine,  is  composed  of  highly  meta 
morphic  and  crystalline  shales. 

Aside  from  the  peculiarity  of  the  rock  formations,  the  Geology 
of  our  State  is  interesting  by  reason  of  the  numerous  deposits  of 
marine  shells  of  the  pleistocene  period — some  of  which  according 
to  the  late  State  Naturalist,  are  more  than  two  miles  inland  from 
Lake  Champlain,  and,  at  least,  two  hundred  feet  above  its  level. 

The  interest  attached  to  the  Geological  Survey  of  a  State  so 
rich  in  natural  and  mineral  curiosities  as  Vermont,  will  increase 
as  the  Survey  advances.  As  the  useful  minerals  continue  to  be 
more  generally  understood  and  more  freely  developed,  and  while 
the  means  of  prosperous  enterprize  are  continued  to  her  citi- 

*See  Appendix,  No  G  and  7. 


21 

zens,  we  are  enabled  to  have  some  glimpses  of  the  relative  age 
and  connection  of  the  rocks  of  the  State  as  well  as  of  some  of 
the  causes  which  have  so  modified  and  diversified  the  coast  of  this 
portion  of  our  earth.  So,  too,  we  have  a  fair  promise  of  being 
able  to  trace  the  connection  of  the  rocks  of  Vermont  with  those 
of  Canada,  and  of  other  States,  as  well  as  of  other  parts  of  the 
globe. 

Moreover  the  discovery  of  rare  organic  remains  by  my  prede 
cessor  has  awakened  considerable  interest  among  paleontologists, 
and  the  paramount  authority  of  fossils  in  ascertaining  the  rela 
tive  ages  of  strata  is  maintained  with  additional  force.  I  need 
not  say  that  the  moral  influence  of  such  discoveries,  and  in  fact 
of  the  study  of  Natural  History  generally,  must  be  healthful  and 
elevating,  for  such  discoveries  u  constitute  the  links  in  the  mighty 
chain  of  causes  and  effects  to  connect  created  with  uncreated 
mind." 

It  is  a  source  of  painful  regret  that  the  career  of  Professors 
Thompson  and  Adams  closed  before  the  work  assigned  to  them 
by  the  Legislature  had  been  fully  performed.  It  was  the  dying 
lamentation  of  Professor  Thompson,  who  loved  his  native  State 
and  her  people  and  devoted  his  life  to  an  enquiry  into  her  Civil 
and  Natural  History,  that  Providence  could  not  permit  him  to 
finish  the  work  for  which  he  was  appointed.  It  is  due  to  his 
memory  to  state,  that  apart  from  the  inroads  upon  his  time  and 
opportunities  for  research  which  disease  had  made  during  the  latter 
part  of  his  life,  he  met  with  obstacles  in  the  way  of  completing 
the  Geological  Survey  which  were  almost  insurmountable.  One 
and  the  chief  of  these  he  has  alluded  to  in  the  following  term  s 
which  I  find  among  the  various  manuscripts  which  he  left,  and 
which  by  virtue  of  my  appointment  have  been  entrusted  to  my 
examination  and  custody. 

"  In  the  first  place  I  have  been  very  much  disappointed  in  re 
lation  to  the  field-notes  of  our  former  State  Geologist,  the  late 
Prof.  C.  B.  Adams.  I  was  aware  during  the  progress  of  his  la 
bors,  that  he  kept  many  of  his  notes  in  a  short  hand  of  his  own 
contriving,  and  remonstrated  with  him  for  so  doing.  Still  I  hoped 
to  make  out  enough  from  them,  to  save  the  trouble  of  going  over 
any  considerable  portion  of  the  ground  again.  But  in  this  I  have 
been  greatly  disappointed.  His  notes  I  find  to  be  exceedingly 


22 

brief  and  so  obscurely  expressed  in  a  system  of  contractions  to 
which  he  has  left  no  key,  that  I  find  it  nearly  impossible  to  derive 
any  information  from  them.  After  spending  much  time  over  these 
notes  to  very  little  purpose,  I  applied  to  Prof.  Adams'  widow, 
thinking  it  possible  that  she  might  be  so  well  acquainted  with  his 
method  of  taking  notes  as  to  be  able  to  decipher  them ;  but  she 
declined  undertaking  it,  thinking  it  doubtful  about  being  able  to 
make  out  anything  from  them  which  would  be  of  service  to  me.'J 

With  regard  to  the  collection  of  "  minerals,  field-notes,  maps 
and  all  preparations  amassed  by  the  first  State  Geologist  for  a 
final  report  upon  the  Geological  Survey,"  I  would  here  state  that 
they  were  duly  deposited  in  the  State  House  in  the  care  of  the 
State  Librarian,  and  subsequently  taken  into  the  custody  of  the 
Jate  State  Naturalist.  The  specimens  which  were  in  a  proper  con 
dition  for  a  State  Cabinet  were  suffered  to  remain  at  Montpelier, 
and  the  other  specimens  which  have  been  since  partially  examined, 
trimmed  and  catalogued,  I  have  ordered  to  be  transported  to  Mont 
pelier.  Those  specimens  which  were  in  a  proper  condition  have 
been  temporarily  arranged  in  the  room  set  apart  for  that  purpose, 
and  the  residue  are  collected  in  room  No.  37  of  the  State  House, 
to  be  distributed  at  an  early  day  to  the  literary  and  medical  in 
stitutions  of  the  State  which  are  entitled  to  the  same,  and  the  bal 
ance  to  be  in  readiness  for  future  foreign  exchanges  when  deemed 
desirable.  Although  at  present  not  in  such  order  and  perfection 
as  might  be  wished,  yet  they  indicate  the  abundance  and  variety 
of  the  mineral  wealth  of  Vermont,  and  suggest  the  benefits  which 
will  undoubtedly  flow  from  its  thorough  development. 

In  regard  to  the  size  of  the  specimens  for  the  several  collections, 
the  rule  adopted  at  the  outset  of  the  Geological  Survey  prescribed 
that,  when  the  materials  admitted,  the  specimens  were  to  be  three 
inches  square  and  not  less  than  one  inch  in  thickness.  Eight 
suites  of  these  minerals  duly  trimmed,  numbered  and  named  were 
to  be  preserved,  whose  destination  was  to  be  as  follows  :  One  (and 
the  best  one  when  there  was  a  choice,)  for  a  State  Collection  at 
Montpelier  ;  one  for  the  University  of  Vermont ;  one  for  Middle- 
bury  College  ;  one  for  Norwich  University ;  one  for  each  of  the 
Medical  Colleges  at  Castleton  and  Woodstock;  one  for  the  Troy 
Conference  Academy  at  Poultney  and  one  to  be  the  property  of 
the  State  Geologist. 

With  some  exceptions,  the  specimens  of  more  than  two  thou- 


23 

Band  in  each  suite  have  been  duly  delivered  to  such  of  the  afore^- 
mentioned  institutions  as  were  willing  to  pay  the  expenses  of  trans 
portation  from  the  geological  depots  at  Middlebury  and  Burling 
ton.  A  few  fossils  and  specimens  which  have  been  recently  trim 
med  ana  ticketed,  have  not  yet  been  forwarded  to  their  final 
destination. 

Rare  and  valuable  specimens  are  placed  where  the  State  Na 
turalist  can  have  ready  access  to  them  while  preparing  for  publi 
cation  his  final  Report  on  the  Natural  History  of  the  State.  The 
number  of  specimens  of  rocks,  fossils  and  minerals,  which  are  to  un 
dergo  a  "  full  and  scientific  examination"  is  very  great,  and  of 
these  many  minerals  and  metals  are  to  be  "described"  in  a  full 
and  scientific  manner,  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  Statute  of 
1853.  Apart  from  this  laborious  duty,  careful  and  complete  as 
says  and  analyses  are  to  be  made,  by  means  of  which  a  determin 
ation  of  the  value  of  different  ores  and  minerals  can  be  secured  j 
and  when  these  duties  of  examination,  description  and  analysis  are 
performed,  the  results  of  the  State  Naturalist's  labors  are  to  be 
systematized  and  prepared  for  publication  in  the  mode  prescribed 
by  the  Statute. 

In  the  progress  of  the  Geological  Survey  under  Prof.  Adams, 
he  was  assisted  in  the  field  labor  by  the  Rev.  Zadock  Thompson, 
and  the  Rev.  S.  R.  Hall  of  Craftsbury  ;  and  the  chemical  analyses 
were  performed  in  the  well  furnished  laboratory  of  Yale  College, 
by  Denison  Olmsted,  Jun.,  of  New  Haven,  Conn.,  who  was  com 
missioned  as  Assistant  Geologist,  and  served  in  that  capacity  un 
til  his  death,  August  15th,  1846.  The  report  of  Mr.  Olmsted, 
forms  a  part  of  Prof.  Adams'  Second  Annual  Report,  and  is  a  valu 
able  portion  of  the  Appendix.  Subsequently  to  Mr.  Olmsted's 
death,  Mr.  Thomas  S.  Hunt,  now  of  Montreal,  was  appointed  As 
sistant  State  Geologist,  in  order  that  his  valuable  services  might 
be  secured  in  the  Mineralogical  department  of  the  Survey,  and  his 
reports  of  the  chemical  analyses  made  by  him  were  communicated 
to  Professor  Adams  and  appended  to  his  reports  on  the  Geological 
Survey,  before  Mr.  Hunt  accepted  the  position  which  he  now 
holds  of  Chemist  and  Mineralogist  to  the  Geological  Survey  of 
Canada. 

Other  experienced  gentlemen  were  engaged  in  field  labor  and  as 
assistants.  Dr.  S.  P.  Lathrop,  Messrs.  L.  F.  Locke  and  Edward 


24 

Hitchcock,  Jim.,  arc  favorably  noticed  in  Prof.  Adams'  Reports, 
and  to  Prof.  Louis  Agassiz  of  Cambridge  ;  Prof.  James  Hall  and 
Dr.  Ebenezer  Emmons  of  Albany,  N.  Y  ;  Dr.  Asa  Fitch  of  Sa 
lem,  N.  Y;  Prof.  Benjamin  Silliman,  Jun.,  of  New  Haven,  Conn., 
Dr.  Samuel  W.  Thayer,  now  of  Burlington,  Vt.,  Dr.  James  Rob- 
bins  of  Chester,  Vt.,  and  others,  was  Prof.  Adams  greatly  indebted 
for  advice,  assistance  and  friendly  co-operation  in  his  professional 
and  responsible  labors.  If  Prof.  Adams  had  completed  his  origin 
al  design  of  preparing  a  final  Geological  Report,  the  value  of  the 
services  and  aid  of  these  learned  gentlemen  might  have  been  in 
calculable. 

I  am  not  aware  that  my  predecessor  Professor  Thompson  was 
regularly  aided  in  his  arduous  task  by  an  assistant  Naturalist. 
He  was,  however,  in  constant  correspondence  with  prominent  Natu 
ralists  in  this  country  and  abroad,  and  in  intimate  relations  with  his 
friend  and  medical  adviser,  Samuel  W.  Thayer,  M.  D.,  who  has 
taken  great  interest  in  all  matters  connected  with  the  Geological 
Survey  of  Vermont  from  its  start,  and  also  with  Professor  James 
Hall,  of  Albany,  N.  Y.,  who  rendered  aid  near  the  close  of  Pro 
fessor  Thompson's  life  in  cataloguing  valuable  fossils,  and  in  ma 
king  scientific  examination  of  rare  trilobites  which  Professor 
Thompson  had  obtained  in  his  researches  throughout  the  State. 
Professor  Henry  Erni,  then  a  Professor  of  Chemistry,  Pharmacy 
and  Toxicology  in  the  Medical  Department  of  the  University  of 
Vermont,  made  on  his  behalf  some  chemical  analyses  which  are 
preserved  in  part  among  the  manuscripts  which  were  left  incom 
plete  by  Professor  Thompson  at  the  time  of  his  death.  I  greatly 
fear  that  a  large  portion  of  the  labors  of  these  assistants  and  cor 
respondents  cannot  now  be  made  available  to  the  world  by  reason 
of  lapse  of  time  and  other  untoward  causes.  Undoubtedly  the 
vast  array  of  notes  and  memoranda  belonging  to  the  Survey 
would  have  been  of  inestimable  value  if  they  had  been  prepared 
and  kept  in  a  more  methodical  and  intelligible  manner,  and  the 
difficulty  of  compiling  final  reports  would  have  been  materially 
lessened  and  their  value  greatly  enhanced. 

At  the  last  session  of  the  General  Assembly  I  find  that  the 
following  resolution  was  adopted  :* 

"Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  That 

*See  Appendix,  No.  3. 


25 

the  Sergeant-at-Arms  be  and  is  hereby  directed  to  set  apart  and 
prepare  the  committee  room,  numbered  fourteen,  for  the  use  of 
the  State  Naturalist  for  the  deposit  and  arrangement  of  the  speci 
mens  collected  and  to  be  collected  in  the  Geological,  Botanical  and 
Zoological^Survey  of  the  State."  * 

This  resolution  which  was  so  opportunely  offered  and  adopted 
is  prospective  in  its  character  and  evidently  contemplates  the 
formation  of  a  State  Cabinet  of  the  Natural  History  of  Vermont 
— a  purpose  which  will  meet  with  the  approval  of  every  thought 
ful  citizen.  This  important  step  has  undoubtedly  been  taken 
towards  the  formation  of  such  a  Cabinet  for  the  purpose  of  col 
lecting  and  preserving  to  all  time,  valuable  specimens  of  the  Nat- 
Ural  History  of  the  State,  and  affording  a  safe  and  attractive  re 
pository  for  the  discoveries  resulting  from  the  future  researches 
of  inquisitive  and  scientific  inquirers.  The  minerals  and  other 
geological  specimens  already  collected  in  great  numbers  by  the 
State  Geologist  and  State  Naturalist  will  form  the  basis  of  the 
State  Cabinet  as  this  Resolution  implies,  to  which  great  additions 
can  hereafter  be  made  in  the  botanical  and  zoological  departments 
of  Natural  History. 

The  State  House  seems  to  be  the  most  central  and,  therefore, 
the  most  appropriate  locality  for  such  a  Cabinet.  Visited  as  the 
Capitol  is  and  always  will  be  at  all  times  of  the  year,  every  rare 
object  in  such  a  Cabinet  would  be  universally  seen  and  duly  ap 
preciated.  Those  persons  who  are  making  new  discoveries  in 
the  mineral  wealth  of  Vermont,  and  are  desirous  of  exhibiting 
new  and  beautiful  specimens  of  marble,  serpentine,  steatite,  &c., 
to  the  largest  number  and  in  the  most  imposing  and  attractive 
manner  would  naturally  contribute  to  it.  Such  contributions, 
originating  as  they  might,  possibly,  in  a  wish  to  advertise  the 
rare  products  of  a  particular  locality  will,  of  course,  greatly 
tend  to  increase  the  beauty  and  add  to  the  value  of  the  State 
Cabinet. 

Such  a  collection  as  this  resolution  implies  will  also  facilitate 
the  too  much  neglected  study  of  our  Geology  and  Natural  His 
tory.  If  the  rocks  of  Vermont  are  arranged  in  such  a  collection 
according  to  their  respective  counties  and  the  organic  remains 

*  See  Appendix  No.  8. 

4 


26 

there  exhibited,  reveal  the  connection  or  prove  the  separation  of 
certain  strata  and  groups  of  rocks,  the  student  of  nature  after 
examining  them  in  the  State  Cabinet  can  at  once  repair  to  the 
localities  where  the  rocks  abound  and  thus  familiarize  himself  in 
a  short  time  with  the  Geology  of  the  State.  The  wide  range  of 
animal  and  vegetable  life*  which  belongs  to  Vermont  will  also 
present  a  wide  field  for  scientific  examination  and  the  State 
Cabinet  ought  in  time  to  possess  specimens  of  all  animals  and 
vegetables  which  have  lived  or  grown  in  Vermont,  and  each  speci 
men  presented  or  collected  should  be  carefully  preserved  and  named 
and  the  locality  of  each  properly  noted  and  all  specimens  calcu 
lated  to  illustrate  the  Ornithology,  Erpetology,  Icthyology  and 
Entomology  of  the  State  should  have  a  "  local  habitation  and  a 
name,"  in  such  a  State  Cabinet  as  the  resolution  contemplates. 

Since  the  adoption  of  this  resolution,  the  Sergeant-at-arms  has 
prepared  the  room  assigned  to  the  department  of  Natural  History, 
under  the  advice  of  the  late  State  Naturalist  with  the  view  to  exhi 
bit  until  a  more  spacious  room  is  procured,  such  specimens  as  are 
in  readiness  for  the  State  Cabinet. 

The  minerals  and  other  objects  collected  by  the  State  Geologist 
and  State  Naturalist  which  have  been  too  long  locked  up  and  there 
by  rendered  comparatively  useless  for  any  pratical  purpose  will 
upon  being  properly  prepared,  labelled  and  arranged  be  greatly 
enhanced  in  value.  The  duty  of  such  a  preparation  and  arrange 
ment  has  been  intrusted  to  my  assistant  Albert  D  Hager,  "Esq.,  of 
Proctorsville,  Vermont,  whose  experience  and  skill  fit  him  for  the 
thorough  and  acceptable  execution  of  this  important  trust  and  I 
respectfully  submit  to  your  perusal  Mr.  Hager's  Report  which  is 
appended  to  this  communication  and  bespeak  for  the  suggestions 
contained  therein  a  thoughtful  consideration. 

I  take  also  this  opportunity  to  express  my  grateful  acknowledg 
ment  to  my  friend  George  F.  Houghton,  Esq.,  of  St.  Albans,  Ver 
mont,  to  whom  I  have  issued  a  commission  as  Assistant  State  Na 
turalist  and  who  has  rendered  me  important  service  in  the  course 
of  my  labors  as  State  Naturalist. 

I  have  thus  presented  to  your  Excellency,  in  as  brief  a  manner 
as  the  number  and  nature  of  the  topics  alluded  to  in  this  commu 
nication  would  permit,  the  several  facts  which  tend  to  indicate  the 
present  condition  of  the  Geological  Survey.  Although  the  Stat- 


27 

ute  of  1853  requires  no  report  to  be  made  until  "  sufficient  facts 
and  materials  shall  have  been  collected  upon  the  subject  of  Phys 
ical  Geography,  Scientific  Geology  and  Mineralogy  of  the  State  to 
form  a  volume  of  not  less  than  five  hundred  pages  octavo,"  yet  the 
peculiar  circumstances  I  have  referred  to  and  the  natural  and 
laudable  curiosity  of  the  people  of  the  State  in  regard  to  a  matter 
in  which  they  have  manifested  great  interest  from  the  outset  of 
the  Geological  Survey,  seemed  to  require  of  me  a  plain  and  un 
varnished  statement  of  such  facts  and  explanations  as  would  satis 
fy  all  reasonable  enquiries. 

In  drawing  this  communication  to  an  abrupt  close  I  would,  with 
due  diffidence,  express  a  hope  that  this  statement  and  the  appen 
dix  thereto  may  be  laid  before  the  General  Assembly  at  your 
early  convenience  if  your  Excellency  deem  it  proper,  with  such 
accompanying  executive  remarks  as  may  secure  to  it  a  patient 
perusal  and  a  candid  consideration. 

I  have  the  honor  to  remain 

Your  Excellency's  obedient  servant, 
AUGUSTUS  YOUNG,  State  Naturalist. 

ST.  ALBANS  VERMONT,  October  10th,  1856. 


REPORT  OF  ALBERT  D.  HAGER, 

ASSISTANT  STATE  NATURALIST. 


HON,  AUGUSTUS  YOUNG. 

State  Naturalist : 

DEAR  SIB.  : — In  compliance  with  the  instructions  em 
braced  in  the  commission  of  Assistant  State  Naturalist  which  you 
were  kind  enough  to  issue  to  me,  I  lost  no  time  in  _  proceeding 
to  the  Geological  depot  at  Burlington.  This  depot,  as  you  are 
aware,  was  a  small  building  near  the  dwelling  house  of  the  late 
State  Naturalist  which  had  been  used  for  a  number  of  years  by 
Professors  Adams  and  Thompson  during  the  continuance  of  their 
geological  labors.  I  found  that  several  boxes  had  been  duly  pack 
ed  with  minerals,  and  were  in  readiness  to  be  forwarded  to  their 
final  destination.  Much  the  larger  proportion  of  specimens,  how 
ever,  were  in  trays  and  required  to  be  carefully  assorted  prepara 
tory  to  being  packed  and  boxed  up.  Inasmuch  as  the  value  of 
mineralogical  cabinets  greatly  depends  upon  the  character  of  the 
specimens,  and  a  correct  statement  of  their  locality  and  proper 
ties,  I  aimed  to  pack  each  mineral  and  fossil  with  great  care, 
wrapping  with  each  specimen  in  all  cases  the  appropriate  label 
indicating  its  name  and  locality  and  in  every  instance  of  doubt  had 
reference  to  the  Catalogues  which  you  entrusted  to  me  for  my 
examination  and  guidance. 

You  are  aware  that  the  specimens  had  been  twice  partly  ar 
ranged  by  the  late  State  Geologist  and  late  State  Naturalist ;  and 
the  disadvantages  under  which  I  labored  were  increased  by  the 
system  of  short  hand  which  Professor  Adams  used  in  his  memo 
randum  books. 

This  short  hand  and  initials,  written  for  the  most  part  jn  pencil 
were  in  many  cases  perplexing  and  unintelligible.  But  in  every 
instance  where  reliable  information  of  the  locality  of  all  speci^ 
mens  could  not  be  had,  they  were  placed  among  those  where  local- 


30 

ity  was  uncertain  or  unknown — certainty  being  an  indispensible 
desideratum  in  the  formation  of  a  cabinet  of  minerals. 

In  the  instructions  given  by  His  Excellency  Governor  Slade  to 
the  first  State  Geologist,  he  was  directed  "  to  procure  one  suite  of 
specimens  fora  State  collection,  and  one  for  each  of  the  three  liter 
ary,  and  two  medical  colleges,  and  one  for  the  Troy  Conference 
Academy  at  Poultney.*  Some  of  these  institutions  have  not  sent 
for  their  quota,  and,  unfortunately  the  number  received  by  each 
institution  was  not  minuted  down  in  the  books  connected  with  the 
Geological  Survey  in  such  a  manner  (if  at  all)  as  to  be  a  guide  to 
any  one  but  those  who  forwarded  them.  Probably  the  late  Pro 
fessors  Adams  and  Thompson  would  have  had  no  difficulty  in 
discharging  this  part  of  their  duty— while  others  might  be  greatly 
embarrassed  who  have  no  access  to  their  private  correspondence 
or  key  to  their  memoranda. 

But  I  have  endeavored  to  assign  to  each  institution  its  quota  of 
minerals  as  set  apart  and  numbered  by  Professor  Thompson — 
packing  the  contents  of  each  tray  and  box  and  noting  them  care 
fully  in  my  book  of  memoranda  ;  and  agreeably  to  your  order, 
have  forwarded  them  to  Montpelier,  so  that  the  entire  collection  of 
minerals  obtained  by  Professors  Adams  and  Thompson  is  now  at  the 
Capitol  either  in  number  fourteen  or  number  thirty-seven  of  the 
State  House  except  what  have  already  been  forwarded  to  their  final 
destination.  The  number  already  collected  for  the  suites  as  con 
templated  by  Governor  Slade  amounts  to  about  twenty-seven 
hundred  specimens  for  the  State  Cabinet,  and  a  like  number  for 
each  of  the  aforementioned  literary  institutions  and  medical  col 
leges  of  Vermont,  or  about  twenty  thousand  specimens,  including 
a  large  number  of  surplus  specimens  which  may  be  useful  for  fu 
ture  exchanges. 

It  will  be  my  aim  to  collect,  pack  and  get  in  readiness  all  of  the 
minerals  and  fossils  assigned  for  each  institution,  so  that  each  col 
lege  and  literary  institution  can  procure  its  quota  upon  applica 
tion  at  the  State  House,  during  the  session  of  the  Legislature, 
and  if  I  am  present  at  the  Capitol  I  shall  take  pleasure  in  facili 
tating  their  delivery. 

With  respect  to  other  kinds  of  property  belonging  to  the  State 
which  was  stored  in  the  geological  depot  at  Burlington,  I  took 

*See  Professor  Adams  First  Annual  Report,    page  7. 


31 

them  into  my  custody  under  your  directions  and  forwarded  them  to 
Montpelier.  They  consist  of  the  following  articles  :  sixty-three 
boxes  for  holding  and  packing  minerals,  one  hundred  trays  for 
holding  and  assorting  minerals,  one  table,  one  anvil  and  block,  five 
maps,  fifty  sections  of  maps,  two  chairs,  two  sledges,  six  hammers, 
one  drill,  one  iron  bar,  one  box  chisel,  one  tape  measure,  and  a 
valuable  barometer.  Sixty-two  boxes  and  seventeen  trays  filled 
with  minerals  and  fossils,  were  forwarded  from  Burlington  and 
delivered  at  the  State  House. 

In  pursuance  of  the  Joint  Resolution  of  the  Legislature  passed 
in  185c,  the  Sergeant-at-Arms  has  fitted  up  room  numbered  four 
teen  in  the  State  House,  under  the  advice  and  suggestions  received 
from  Prof,  Thompson  in  his  lifetime.  This  room  is  assigned  for 
the  "  use  of  the  State  Naturalist,  and  for  the  deposit  aud  arrange 
ment  of  the  specimens  collected  and  to  be  collected  in  the  geologi 
cal,  botanical  and  zoological  survey  of  the  State." 

In  the  arrangement  of  the  cases  as  made  by  order  of  the  late 
State  .Naturalist,  it  is  apparent  that  they  were  intended  for  the  re 
ception  of  specimens  of  the  birds,  fishes,  reptiles,  insects  and  other 
objects  calculated  to  illustrate  the  Natural  History  of  Vermont, 
as  well  as  for  the  reception  of  Vermont  minerals  and  fossils. 

I  have  accordingly  arranged  the  geological  specimens  in  the 
division  originally  designed  for  their  reception — thinking  it  high 
ly  probable  that  the  State  of  Vermont  might  at  no  distant  day 
procure  if  possible  the  very  valuable  private  collection  of  the  pro 
ducts  of  the  State,  which  Prof.  Zadock  Thompson  had  taken  pains 
to  collect  during  the  last  thirty  years  of  his  life,  and  which  col 
lection  is  now  in  the  possession  of  Mrs.  Thompson,  his  widow,  at 
Burlington.  This  being  exclusively  a  Vermont  collection,  and 
embracing  objects  in  all  departments  of  Natural  History,  ought  to 
be  preserved  entire,  and  it  has  occurred  to  me  that  the  most  ap 
propriate  place  for  its  exhibition  and  preservation  would  be  at  the 
State  House. 

In  room  numbered  thirty-seven  I  found  about  twenty-five  hun 
dred  geological  and  mineralogical  specimens  trimmed  and  number 
ed — a  due  proportion  of  which  I  have  removed  to  room  numbered 
fourteen  and  arranged  in  the  case  prepared  under  the  direction  of 
Prof.  Thompson  ;  but  the  case  being  insufficient  for  the  reception 
of  the  entire  number  of  specimens,  another  case  was  made  at  my 
suggestion  which  will  be  soon  filled  with  specimens. 


32 

At  first  glance,  it  might  appear  that  the  State  Cabinet  contains 
too  many  specimens  from  the  same  or  adjacent  localities  ;  and  to 
the  casual  observer,  a  greater  degree  of  interest  in  the  mineralogy 
of  the  State  might  be  awakened,  if  the  specimens  were  fewer  in 
number  and  art  had  been  employed  to  exhibit  the  beauty  of  each 
to  its  greatest  advantage.  For  instance,  the  polished  specimen 
of  Isle  La  Motte  marble,  and  the  beautiful  slabs  of  Verde  Antique 
marble  from  Roxbury  and  Cavendish,  elicit  the  admiration  of  each 
spectator,  while  the  rough  and  unpolished  rocks  from  the  same 
quarries  possibly  attract  no  notice  whatever. 

But  the  careful  student  of  Natural  History  and  the  ardent  de 
votee  of  geological  science  desire  an  exhibition  of  the  material  in 
the  rough,  and  all  the  forms  in  which  it  is  found  in  its  natural 
bed.  Such  enquirers  are  not  satisfied  with  a  superficial  glance  at 
the  numerous  fossils  found  in  and  forming  the  Isle  La  Motte  mar 
ble,  and  contemplating  the  changes  that  have  been  wrought  to 
render  whole  races  of  animated  nature  extinct  and  entombed  as  he 
sees  them,  and  with  a  great  stride  pass  from  them  to  an  examina 
tion  of  the  beautiful  statuary  marbles  of  Vermont.  He  desires  to 
examine  the  intervening  groups  to  determine  if  possible,  whether 
there  be  any  connection  between  the  two  varieties,  and  if  so,  to 
note  the  difference  arid  ascertain  the  producing  cause. 

It  is  found  that  as  the  limestone  approaches  the  upheaved  rocks 
it  becomes  saccharoidal  or  sparry,  and  apparently  destitute  of  fos 
sils,  and  eminent  geologists  are  of  opinion  that  our  beautiful  white 
marbles  are  of  fossiliferous  origin,  and  altered  by  the  agency  of 
heat  and  other  causes,  and  that  the  white  unspotted  memorial 
stones  in  our  burying  places  are  themselves  the  charnel  house  of 
myriads  of  beings  that  once  crawled  upon  ocean's  bed,  or  sported 
in  the  waters  of  the  mighty  deep. 

In  arranging  the  minerals  in  the  case  ordered  by  Professor 
Thompson  I  have  endeavored  to  follow  as  nearly  as  possible  the 
plan  adopted  by  your  predecessors  ;  but  in  the  new  case  I  propose 
with  your  consent,  to  vary  so  far  from  their  plan  as  to  present  on 
a  label  the  full  name  of  the  mineral  or  fossil  with  that  of  the 
locality  and  d  .nor  when  known  ;  by  means  of  which  the  spectator 
will  be  relieved  from  the  disagreeable  necessity  of  consulting  a  vol 
uminous  catalogue  to  ascertain  the  required  facts  and  I  propose  to 
append  the  appropriate  number  to  the  label  and  place  it  in  itd 
proper  place  upon  the  catalogue; 


33 

I  would  in  this  connection,  remark  that  the  minerals  in  the  State 
collection  as  well  as  those  sent  to  and  designed  for  the  different  col 
leges  and  institutions  before  mentioned,  have  been  hitherto  barely 
numbered ;  and  in  order  to  ascertain  their  names,  locality  &c. 
reference  to  a  corresponding  number  in  manuscript  catalogue  was 
necessary,  to  supply  the  desired  information.  It  occurred  to  me 
(and  your  directions  clearly  point  out  this  desideratum,)  that  the 
names  and  locality  should  be  legibly  written  or  printed  and  affixed 
k/each  specimen,  and  thus  afford  the  spectator  the  required  infor 
mation  from  an  inspection  of  the  mineral  itself. 

Accordingly  I  have  thought  it  desirable  to  have  printed 
labels  placed  upon  the  minerals  with  their  appropriate  number 
corresponding  to  the  one  on  the  catalogue,  and  have  ordered  a 
suitable  quantity  of  labels  to  be  printed  so  as  to  supply  the  differ 
ent  institutions  having  a  like  collection  of  minerals  from  the  same 
localities  and  collected  by  the  same  geologist.  These  labels  when 
in  readiness  will  be  transmitted  to  their  final  destination  upon  ap 
plication  of  those  interested-. 

It  would  give  me  great  pleasure  if  I  could  arrange  the  mine 
rals  and  fossils  in  groups  and  in  the  order  in  which  they  occur; 
For  instance,  I  would  be  glad  to  arrange  in  one  case  the  rocks  and 
fossils  belonging  to  the  Champlain  division  by  themselves,  so  as 
to  indicate  the  natural  order  in  which  the  formations  occur — be 
ginning  with  the  calciferous  sandstone  and  following  in  order  the 
birds-eye  limestone,  Isle  La  Motte  limestone,  Trenton  limestone, 
tltica  slate  and  Hudson  River  shales  to  the  red  sandstone 
formation; 

In  another  case  there  might  be  arranged  the  Taconic  group  of 
rocks,  giving  a  separate  place  to  the  subdivisions  of  roofing  slatej 
sparry  limestone,  magnesian  slate,  Vermont  marbles  and  granular 
quartz,  and  so  on,  until  all  the  minerals  and  fossils  of  the  State 
of  Vermont  are  represented  fully,  and  each  in  its  proper  place. 

With  this  arrangement  there  should  be  appended  to  each  case 
a  brief  description  of  the  group  or  system  therein  exhibited,  its 
locality,  extent,  position  and  age,  compared  with  other  groups 
represented  in  adjacent  cases. 

But  in  the  small  room  assigned  by  the  Legislature  for  the  ex 
hibition  of  the  specimens  already  collected,  and  hereafter  to  be  col- 
5 


84 

lected  to  illustrate  the  Natural  History  of  the  State  of  Vermont, 
this  arrangement  could  not  be  thoroughly  carried  out.  If,  how 
ever  the  Legislature  should  deem  it  expedient  to  assign  the  ad 
joining  room  on  the  east,  and  order  an  opening  to  be  made  so  as 
to  unite  the  two  rooms,  there  would  be  ample  space  to  carry  out 
the  plan  I  have  suggested,  and  thus  exhibit  in  a  convenient  man 
ner  the  various  specimens  of  scientific  and  economical  interest 
with  which  Vermont,  more  than  any  other  State  in  the  Union 
abounds. 

I  would,  in  this  connection,  remark  that  many  prominent  citi 
zens  of  our  State  have  shown  their  willingness  and  desire  to  pro 
mote  the  success  of  this  undertaking  by  making  voluntary  contri 
butions  to  the  State  collection,  and  others  have  expressed  a  de 
termination  to  do  so,  now  that  suitable  cases  are  prepared  for  the 
reception  and  exhibition  of  specimens. 

To  such  as  propose  furnishing  specimens  of  marble,  slate,  stea 
tite,  <fcc.,  for  exhibition  in  the  State  collection,  I  would  respect 
fully  suggest  that  it  is  desirable,  in  all  cases  when  practicable, 
to  have  the  specimens  about  three  inches  square,  or  three  inches 
wide  and  six  to  nine  inches  in  length,  and  not  to  exceed  one  inch 
in  thickness  ;  and  with  the  polished  specimens  it  is  desirable  to 
have  furnished  one  or  more  samples  in  the  rough,  as  free  from 
hammer  marks  as  possible. 

With  each  specimen  there  should  be  given  the  locality,  name  of 
the  quarry,  the  owners  name  and  that  of  the  donor,  that  the  same 
may  be  placed  upon  a  label  attached  to  the  specimen. 

I  have  been  greatly  encouraged  while  prosecuting  my  labors  at 
Burlington  and  Montpelier,  to  receive  evidences  from  day  to  day 
that  the  public  interest  in  this  matter  of  developing  the  resources  of 
the  State  by  means  of  the  Geological  Survey,  has  not  in  the  least 
abated  by  reason  of  the  unforeseen  obstacles  and  calamities  which 
have  surrounded  its  progress.  I  have  reason  also  to  acknowl 
edge  my  indebtedness  to  the  learned  Professor  Hall,  of  Albany, 
N.  Y.,  for  his  labor  in  determining  the  genera  and  species  of  the 
various  fossils  found  in  the  Champlain  system  of  rocks,  and  I 
would,  before  drawing  this  tedious  report  to  a  close,  return  my 
thanks  to  you  for  the  commission  with  which  you  have  honored 
me,  and  I  tender  my  grateful  acknowledgements  to  all  from  whom 


35 

I  have  received  many  tokens  of  kindness  during  the  progress  of 
my  geological  labors. 

With  sentiments  of  high  regard, 

I  remain,  Dear  Sir, 

Your  friend  and  obedient  serv't, 

ALBERT  D.  HAGER, 
Assistant  State  Naturalist. 

NATURAL  HISTORY  ROOM,  MONTPELIER,  VT.,  ? 
October  9,  1856.  \ 


APPENDIX  I. 


Obituary  of  Professor  Thompson. 


[The  following  carefully  prepared  notice,  from  the  pen  of  a  friend  of  the  deceas 
ed,  was  originally  communicated  to  the  "  Franklin  County  Journal,"  pub 
lished  at  St  Albans,  Vermont. 

We  discharge  a  melancholy  duty  in  announcing  to  our  readers 
the  death  of  this  eminent  Vermonter.  His  widely  known  and 
universally  esteemed  reputation  justifies  us  in  preparing  a  detailed 
memoir  of  his  life  and  literary  labors. 

Professor  Zadock  Thompson,  died  at  Burlington  on  the  19th  of 
January,  1856,  of  ossification  of  the  heart.  He  was  born  in 
Bridgewater,  Windsor  County,  Vermont,  in  the  year  1796  and,  at 
the  time  of  his  death,  must  have  been  in  the  sixtieth  year  of  his 
age.  His  early  life  was  a  continual  struggle  with  poverty  and 
his  education  was  acquired  while  successfully  combatting  the  evils 
of  pecuniary  embarrassment.  At  the  advanced  age  of  27  years  he 
was  graduated  from  the  University  of  Vermont,having  for  his  class 
mates  in  1823  and  now  living,  the  Hon.  Frederick  H.  Allen,  a,n 
eminent  lawyer  in  Boston,  and  Warren  Hoxie,  of  Westford,  Vt. 

From  his  childhood  he  had  a  passion  for  writing  and  publish 
ing  books.  His  first  publications  were  almanacs,  which  he  sold 
by  traveling  about  the  State  on  foot  to  raise  means  to  fit  himself 
for  college  ;  and  "  Thompson's  Almanack  "  became  as  famous 
in  Vermont  as  Robert  B.  Thomas'  in  Massachusetts.  Hia 
first  bound  volume  was  an  Arithmetic,  which  he  published  in 
1826.  This  had  a  general  sale  through  the  State,  and  was  su 
perseded  in  part  by  others  for  no  other  reason  than  a  failure  of  his. 
publisher  to  supply  the  demand  during  the  author's  residence  in 
Canada  as  Principal  of  an  Academy,  where  he  published  a  Geog- 


38 

raphy  and  map  of  Canada  for  schools,  which  has  passed  through 
several  editions. 

Within  a  twelvemonth  from  his  graduation  he  published  at 
Montpelier  iiis  "  Gazetteer  of  Vermont "  pp.  312  and,  in  1833, 
he  published,  at  Burlington,  his  "  History  of  Vermont  from  its 
early  settlement  to  the  close  of  the  year  1832"  pp.  252.  In  the 
year  1832,  he  was  editor  of  and  principal  contributor  to  the  "  Green 
Mountain  Repository,"  a  monthly  _magazine  ^  published  for  about 
a  year  in  Burlington.  After  pursuing  his  study  of  theology  and 
occasionally  teaching  at  the  "  Vermont  Episcopal  Institute  "  and 
elsewhere,  he  was  prepared  for  orders  and  was  ordained  to  the 
diaconate  in  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  by  the  Rt.  Rev. 
Bishop  Hopkins,  in  1836.  He  subsequently  preachedjin  several 
parishes  in  Northern  Vermont  and  New  York,  and  supplied  the 
pulpit  at  St.  Paul's  Church,  Burlington,  during  the  illness  or  ab 
sence  of  the  Rector  ;  but  his  feeble  health  prevented  his  assuming 
the  active  and  onerous  labors  of  a  parish. 

From  the  time,  he  published  his  first  almanac  it  was  his  inten 
tion  to  publish  a  complete  history  of  the  State,  and  for  more 
than  twenty  years  he  was  engaged  in  collecting  materials,  and  for 
this  purpose  traveled  on  foot  into^most  of  the  towns  to  have  per 
sonal  interviews  with  the  "  oldest  inhabitants,"  examine  records, 
Natural  History — Geography,  &c.,  &c.  and  from  1838  to  1842 
he  was  engaged  in  preparing  from  the  mass  of  materials  thus 
collected  his  general  History  of  Vermont. 

At  this  time,  when  he  had  expended  all  his  little  earnings  in  pre 
paring  his  work,  he  was  so  fortunate  as  to  have  his  friend  and 
neighbor  Mr.  Chauncey  Goodrich  voluntarily  offerjto  furnish  all 
the  material  necessary,  and  publish  his  work,  charging  only  the 
usual  cash  prices,  for  paper  and  printing,  /or  all  which  he  might 
pay  from  sales  of  the  book.  This  liberal  offer  enabled  him  to 
publish,  promptly,  an  edition  of  5000  copies  of  his  work  of  656 
closely  printed,  double  column,  octavo  pages,  using  more  than  five 
tons  of  printing  paper,  and  although  the  expenditure  was  more 
than  $5000  to  secure  all  the  profits  to  himself. 

Our  Legislature  was  not  unmindful  of  the  great  service  he  had 
rendered  the  State.  When  he  issued  his  proposals  for  publish 
ing  his  Civil,  Natural  and  Statistical  History  of  Vermont,  they 
directed  the  Secretary  of  State  to  subscribe  for  onejiundred 


39 

copies,  and  on  its  publication  in  1842,  presented  him  with  five 
hundred  dollars.  This  sum,  with  the  sales  of  his  book,  enabled 
him  to  pay  all  his  pecuniary  obligations,  with  his  large  debt  to 
his  publisher,  in  little  more  than  one  year  from  its  publication. 

Professor  Thompson,  in  all  his  actions,  had  a  desire  to  benefit 
all,  whether  rich  or  poor  in  worldly  goods.  When  his  publisher, 
to  whom  he  was  indebted  for  his  means  for  carrying  out  his  plans, 
and  whose  opinions  were  entitled  to  more  consideration  than  any 
and  all  others,  for  more  than  six  months  prior  to  his  issuing  pro 
posals  for  publishing  his  work,  importuned  him  to  publish  his 
History  in  three  volumes  at  $6,  instead  of  one  volume  at  $2,50, 
assuring  him  that  his  profits  would  be  more  than  twice  as  great, 
his  only  reply  was,  that  many  would  want  his  book  who  could 
pay  $2,50.  arid  could  not  afford  to  pay  $6,00 ;  and  that  it  was 
not  right  thus  to  deprive  them  of  a  benefit  their  richer  neighbors 
enjoyed. 

The  prosecution  of  this  purpose  necessarily  brought  him  into 
contact  or  correspondence  with  the  naturalists  of  the  country.  In 
completing  his  account  of  the  birds  of  Vermont  he  was  greatly  as 
sisted  by  Dr.  Thomas  M.  Brewer,  of  Boston,  in  determining  sever 
al  species  of  Reptiles  and  Fishes,  he  was  aided  by  Dr.  D.  H.  Storer 
also  of  Boston.  For  a  full  description  of  our  molluscous  animals, 
he  was  indebted  to  Prof.  Charles  B.  Adams,  then  of  Middlebury 
College,  and  to  Prof.  George  W.  Benedict,  then  of  the  University 
of  Yermont.  For  his  catalogue  of  plants  he  was  indebted  to  the 
late  William  Oakes,  of  Ipswich,  Mass.,  to  Prof.  Joseph  Torrey 
William  F.  Macrae,  and  John  Carey,  Esquires,  and  others.  With 
these  aids  in  his  arduous  labors,  Prof.  Thompson  succeeded  in 
embracing  in  his  work  everything  of  special  importance  relative  to 
the  Natural  and  Civil  History  of  Vermont ;  and  published  it  in 
so  condensed  and  cheap  a  form  as  to  place  it  within  the  reach  of 
every  family  in  the  State,  having  but  little  regard  to  a  pecuniary 
recompense  from  the  sale  of  a  book  which  had  cost  him  so  much 
travel,  research,  time  and  expense  in  its  preparation. 

Prof.  Thompson  found  time  also  to  prepare  annual  astronomical 
calculations  for  the  Messrs.  Walton  of  Montpelier  and  to  publish 
a  valuable  arithmetic  and  elementary  work  on  the  Geology  and 
Geography  of  Vermont  for  the  use  of  schools,  a  Geography  of 
Vermont  for  children,  with  county  maps,  and  to  write  for 


40 

Silliman's  "  American  Journal  of  Science  and  Arts,"  valuable 
scientific  communications,  all  prepared  in  the  systematic,  lucid  and 
condensed  manner  which  imparted  so  much  value  to  all  of  his 
publications. 

In  1845,  Governor  Slade,  appointed  Prof.  Charles  B.  Adams 
State  Geologist,  who  with  the  approbation  of  the  Governor^  ap 
pointed  the  subject  of  this  memoir  one  of  his  assistants  in  the  field 
labor.  Prof.  Thompson  and  the  Rev.  S.  R.  Hall,  the  other  as 
sistant,  visited  and  explored  "  more  or  less  thoroughly  "  about  110 
townships  in  one  season ;  and  Professor  Thompson  was  actively 
engaged  in  this  important  scientific  labor  until  the  Legislature  of 
Vermont  neglected  to  make  an  appropriation  for  a  Final  Report 
on  the  Geology  of  our  State,  and  thus  permitted  the  materials, 
manuscripts,  books  and  specimens  belonging  to  the  Survey  to  re 
main  at  Montpelier  and  Burlington  locked  up  in  about  fifty  boxes. 
The  brief  and  expressive  Report  of  Professor  Thompson  address 
ed  to  Governor  Coolidge,  in  October  1849,  was  published  in  the 
appendix  of  the  House  Journal  for  that  year  and  is  a  sad  commen^ 
tary  on  the  folly  of  which  our  State  has  been  guilty  in  regard  to 
the  matter  of  a  Geological  Survey.  After  the  suspension  of  the 
Geological  Survey,  Dr.  Horace  Eaton,  Governor  of  the  State  in 
1847,  appointed  Professor  Thompson  to  carry  out  the  Resolution 
of  the  Legislature  in  relation  to  international  literary  and  scien^ 
tific  exchanges  ;  and  in  pursuance  of  his  appointment  he  present 
ed  the  exchange  system  in  its  clearest  light  so  that  it  commended 
itself  to  the  approbation  of  every  benevolent  mind."  The  prepa 
ration  of  the  Report  of  "  Proceedings  and  Instructions,"  which,  by 
the  bye,  was  beautifully  printed  in  a  pamphlet  of  80  pages,  re 
flected  great  credit  upon  Mr.  Thompson,  and  upon  the  State  and  it 
is  greatly  to  be  deplored  that  the  historical  interest  which  was 
then  awakened  throughout  the  State  by  the  visit  of  the  founder 
of  the  system  of  exchanges  and  by  the  labors  of  such  men  as 
Professor  Thompson,  Hon.  Hiland  Hall,  of  Bennington,  Henry 
Stevens,  of  Barnet,  Daniel  P.  Thompson^  of  Montpelier,  Prof. 
James  D.  Butler,  then  of  Norwich,  Vt.,  and  others,  should  so  soon 
and  so  thoroughly  have  subsided  and  become  almost  extinct. 

In  June  1850,  Professor  Thompson  delivered  upon  invitation 
an  address  at  Boston  before  the  Boston  Society  of  Natural  History 
in  which  he  made  the  announcement  that "  what  he  had  accomplished 


41 

in  the  business  of  Natural  History  he  had  done  without  any  as 
sociates  engaged  in  like  pursuits,  without  having  any  access  to 
collections  of  specimens  and  almost  ivithout  books"  In  that  ad 
mirable  address  (which,  as  it  had  only  been  partially  reported  and 
published  in  certain  newspapers,  his  friend  Mr.  Goodrich,  at  his 
own  expense,  printed  in  handsome  pamphlet  form  for  distribu 
tion,)  he  illustrated  the  importance  and  difficulties  of  a  thorough 
cultivation  of  Natural  History,  in  country  places,  insisting  that 
a  habit  of  observation  and  comparison  of  objects  of  Natural  His 
tory  could  be  as  quickly  acquired  in  the  country  as  in  the  city  and 
urging  that  the  study  of  Natural  History  should  be  more  gener 
ally  taught  in  our  common  schools  and  colleges  for  the  obvious 
reason  that  such  a  study  ';  would  refine  and  improve  the  moral 
sensibilities  of  our  people,  and  sharpen  and  invigorate  their  intel 
lectual  powers." 

In  such  labors,  beset  with  the  difficulties  so  freely  confessed  be 
fore  the  "  Solid  Men  of  Boston  "  on  the  occasion  of  the  delivery  of 
the  last  mentioned  address,  he  passed  his  quiet  life.  At  one  time 
he  was  a  teacher  of  the  exact  sciences  ;  at  another  time  prosecu 
ting  his  researches  into  Natural  History ;  and  then  he  might  be 
found  preaching  in  his  modest  and  reverential  manner  the  sublime 
doctrines  of  the  Christian  creed  which  he  had  adopted,  and  whether 
in  or  out  of  the  pulpit  always  seen  and  known  as  the  industrious, 
patient,  humble  and  'exemplary  disciple  of  Him  who  was  born  in 
the  manger  and  died  on  the  cross.  Professor  Thompson  thus  won 
friends  not  "  in  single  spies  but  in  battalions,"  friends  who  know 
ing  the  anxiety  he  felt  to  see  the  wonders  of  the  great  exhibition 
at  London,  in  1851,  gladly  put  into  his  purse  that  "  material  aid  " 
of  which  teaching  and  preaching,  and  authorship  had  not  gathered 
a  superabundance.  Chiefly  through  the  kindness  of  friends,  which 
he  has  beautifully  acknowledged  in  one  of  his  books,  he  was  en 
abled  to  enjoy  a  trip  to  the  Old  World,  "  beholding  the  wonders  of 
the  great  deep,  and  seeing  and  admiring  the  wonderful  things  of 
Nature  and  Art  which  lie  beyond  it."  After  an  absence  of  three 
months,  spending  a  few  weeks  in  London  and  Paris  and  after 
travelling  about  7500  miles,  he  came  back  refreshed  in  spirit  and 
health  to  his  humble  dwelling  at  Burlington  and  after  a  while 
yielded  to  the  importunities  of  his  friends  and  published  a  neat 
volume  of  143  pages,  entitled  a  "Journal  of  a  trip  to  London^  Paris 


42 

and  the  Great  Exhibition  in  1851."  Although  this  "  Journal "  is 
composed  of  notes  for  each  day  from  May  till  August,  jotted 
down  when  travelling  or  sight-seeing,  for  the  private  eye  of  fam 
ily  and  friends  and  with  no  expectation  that  they  would  ever  be 
printed :  yet  they  contain  much  that  is  new  and  valuable,  and  al 
though  published  as  a  "  thank  offering  to  his  friends,"  yet  the 
reading  public  have  perused  it  with  equal  pleasure  and  profit. 

Since  the  publication  of  his  History  of  Vermont  in  1842,  rail 
roads  and  magnetic  telegraphs  have  been  introduced  into  the  State 
and  other  changes  have  taken  place  ;  and  early  in  1853  Professor 
Thompson  published  an  appendix  to  the  History,  chiefly  in  the 
department  of  the  Natural  History.  This  appendix,  although, 
containing  only  64  pages,  is  a  most  valuable  supplement  to  hia 
large  work,  and  if  his  life  had  been  spared  a  few  years,  as  he  says 
in  the  Preface,  he  might  have  re-written  the  whole  history. 

"We  have  now  arrived  in  chronological  order  at  his  last  work,  up 
on  which  the  Professor  was  engaged  when  the  summons  came  for 
him  to  join  the  majority  and  be  "  gathered  to  his  fathers."  It  will 
be  remembered  that  the  labors  of  Professor  Adams  and  his  as 
sistant  had  ceased  in  184T  on  behalf  of  the  State.  The  cold 
shoulder  of  "  men  most  noted  for  wisdom  arid  virtue  "  was  turned 
toward  them,  after  it  was  an  established  fact  "  that  as  much  labor 
was  performed  and  as  much  investigation  effected  as  were  ever 
accomplished  with  the  same  expenditure  in  any  other  State" — 
Prof.  Adams'  final  report  was  never  made,  and  January  19th  1853, 
he  died  on  the  island  of  St.  Thomas,  W.  I.,  cut  down  in  the  prime 
of  life  and  usefulness,  when  all  that  remained  of  the  Geological 
Survey  of  Vermont  was  shut  up  in  short  hand  in  the  field-books 
of  the  State  Geologist,  and  those  of  his  assistants  or  locked  up  in  the 
fifty  boxes  of  unticketed  and  untrimmed  specimens  at  Burlington 
and  Montpelier.  Years  after  the  field  work  was  done  and  when 
Prof.  Adams  was  slumbering  in  his  grave,  the  men  "  most  noted  for 
wisdom  and  virtue,"  discovered  that  they  had  made  a  mistake  in 
arresting  the  progress  of  the  survey.  Then  it  was  that  Professor 
Zadock  Thompson  was  appointed  by  Statute,  State  Naturalist  with 
the  following  duties  :  "  to  enter  upon  a  thorough  prosecution  and 
completion  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  the  State,  embracing 
therein  full  and  scientific  examination  and  description  of  its  rocks, 
soils,  metals  and  minerals ;  make  careful  and  complete  assays  and 


43 

analyses  of  the  same  and  prepare  the  results  of  his  labors  for  pub 
lication  under  the  three  following  titles,  to  wit : 

First-  -Physical  Geography,  Scientific  Geology  and  Miner 
alogy. 

Second — Economical  Geology,  embracing  Botany  and  Agri 
culture. 

Third— General  Zoology  of  the  State. 

[Session  Laws,  1853  pp.  45,  46.] 

He  was  pursuing  the  labors  of  this  responsible  task  which  the 
State  had  honorably  to  herself  and  to  him  commissioned  him  to 
perform,  when  death  bereaved  his  family  and  friends  and  the 
community  of  a  man  who  in  all  things  was  the  type  and  exemplar 
of  his  race.  On  the  same  day.  three  years  before,  his  predecessor 
went  to  his  long  home,  both  leaving  the  matter  of  a  Geological  Sur 
vey,  in  which  both  delighted  and  in  which  both  had  spent  long 
nights  and  laborious  days,  still  unfinished. 

At  the  time  of  his  death,  Professor  Thompson  was  a  Professor  of 
Natural  History  in  the  University  of  Vermont,  an  institution  to 
which  he  had  been  greatly  attached  since  his  graduation  in  1823  ; 
and  the  eminent  self-taught  Naturalist  who  had  devoted  his  life 
in  a  quiet  and  unpretended  way  to  independent  scientific  enquiry 
and  the  labors  of  authorship  and  the  ministry,  died  in  his  humble 
dwelling  near  the  University  with  his  intellectual  armor  on  ere  his 
"  eye  had  grown  dim  or  his  natural  force  abated."  Dr.  Thomas 
M.  Brewer,  Editor  of  the  Boston  Atlas,  and  a  naturalist  of  great 
research  and  acquirement,  thus  alludes  in  touching  language  to  the 
death  of  his  valuable  friend. 

"His  loss  both  as  a  citizen  and  a  public  man  is  one  of  no 
ordinary  character — he  has  not  left  his  superior  in  science  behind 
him,  in  his  own  State.  We  have  known  him  long  and  well,  and 
in  speaking  of  such  a  loss  we  know  not  which  most  to  sympathize 
with,  the  family  from  whom  has  been  taken  the  upright,  devoted 
and  kind-hearted  head,  or  that  larger  family  of  science,  who  have 
lost  an  honored  and  most  valuable  member.  Modest  and  unas 
suming,  diligent  and  indefatigable  in  his  scientific  pursuits,  at 
tentive  to  all,  whether  about  him  or  at  a  distance,  and  whether 
friends  or  strangers,  no  man  will  be  more  missed,  not  merely  in  his 
immediate  circle  of  family  and  friends,  but  in  that  larger  sphere 
of  the  lovers  of  natural  science,  tlun  Zadock  Thompson. 


44 

"At  any  time  we  should  hear  of  the  death  of  such  a  man  with 
deep  regret  and  grief,  and  these  feelings  are  increased  in  the 
present  case,  when  we  remember  that  he  has  been  called  from  the 
field  of  his  usefulness  when  the  great  work  of  his  most  useful  life 
has  been  but  partly  done.  But  he  has  been  taken,  and  we  may 
not  murmur  at  the  inscrutable  decree  by  which  that  work  has 
been  arrested,  just  as  it  was  on  the  eve  of  completion.  New 
England  may  have  more  brilliant  and  more  popular  illustrators 
of  her  natural  science,  but  one  more  thorough  or  more  devoted 
we  have  never  known  ;  nor  one  who  once  known  has  been  more 
honored  and  esteemed  by  Naturalists,  or  beloved  .by  friends,  than 
the  late  Professor  Zadock  Thompson." 

A  correspondent  of  the  "  Gospel  Messenger"  a  brother  cler 
gyman  of  the  Diocese  of  Vermont,  who  was  present  at  the  fu 
neral  together  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hicks,  of  Rutland,  and  the 
Rev.  W.  T.  Webbe.  of  Middlcbury,  thus  eloquently  alludes  to 
the  funeral  of  the  deceased  which  was  holden  in  St.  Paul's  Church, 
and  to  certain  characteristics  of  the  lamented  Professor  : 

"  A  very  large  congregation  assembled  at  the  Church  to  pay 
the  last  tribute  of  respect  to  the  deceased  ;  and  the  closing  of  the 
stores,  shops  and  offices,  in  the  midst  of  a  very  busy  day,  was  a 
most  appropriate  and  affecting  testimony  of  the  estimation  in 
which  he  was  held  where  his  moral  worth  and  scientific  character 
were  best  known. 

"  Owing  to  a  disease,  of  the  heart  which  terminated  his  life,  he 
was  long  since  incapacitated  for  the  pastoral  office,  and  from 
purchasing  that  £  good  degree  '  to  which  the  diaconate  would  have 
entitled  him,  and  gave  himself  up  to  those,  scientific  investigations 
and  employments  with  whose  successful  and  happy  results  very 
many  beyond  his  native  State  are  familiar. 

"A  very  appropriate  discourse  was  delivered  at  the  Church  by 
Dr.  Hicks,  in  which  though  little  was  sard  of  the  dead,  he  was 
briefly  and  very  happily  referred  to  as  a  man  of  rare  intellectual 
endowments,  who  was  above  all  praise  in  ability  and  accuracy  of 
scientific  research,  and  who,  perhaps,  an  all-wise  Providence  di 
rected  into  such  channels,  that  he  might  be  a  witness  to  their 
compatibility  with  divine  revelation. 

"  To  his  eyes,  nature  and  revelation  were  pages  written  by  the 
same  Omnipotent  finger,  and  never  disagreeing ;  and  no  man 


45 

had  a  more  accurate  and  discriminating  mind,  better  able  to  weigh 
and  compare  the  facts  narrated  by  Moses,  or  placed  upon  the 
more  recondite  leaves  or  layers  which  compose  the  book  of  na-« 
ture,  which  so  many  Naturalists  and  Geologists  read  with  skeptic 
eyes. 

"  I  could  but  reflect  as  I  passed  by  the  humble  dwelling-  of  his 
earthly  abode  on  the  following  morning,  under  what  different  cir 
cumstances  the  leap  of  worlds  is  made  by  mortals  when  the  sum-- 
mons  comes,  and  how  little  influence  this  world's  pomp  will  have 
in  determining  their  welcome  and  distinction  in  the  celestial 
courts.  The  rich  who  live  only  for  ease  or  enjoyment  in  the 
fashions  and  follies  of  life,  leave  sumptuous  dwellings  and  a  few 
dollars,  which  through  prodigal  heirs,  often  perish  almost  with 
the  pomp  of  their  funeral,  while  the  man  we  yesterday  bore  from 
the  unpretending  tenement  where  a  lone  widow  weeps,  has  be 
queathed  to  the  world  that  which  has  a  value  above  the  wealth  of  the 
State  to  purchase. 

"Mr.  Thompson  has  received  small  aids  as  Geological  Sur 
veyor  appointed  by  the  State,  and  for  his  services  in  the  Col 
lege  ;  but  not  enough  to  prevent  his  dying  poor — the  fate  of  too 
many  men,  who  are  starved  to  death  by  the  same  public  eco 
nomy  which  praises  them  when  dead,  and  erects  monuments  over 
their  graves  ! 

"But  science,  sanctified  by  religion,  is  a  precious  jewel,  which 
however  despised  and  neglected  in  the  hands  of  the  poor  and  un 
assuming  in  life,  is  never  lost  to  the  world  ;  and  it  is  of  little  mat^ 
ter  from  what  unpretending  hands  or  hovels  it  descends  to  man 
kind,  and  goes  up  to  sparkle  in  the  crown  of  a  Christian  student, 
when  this  re-constructed  tabernacle  shall  be  what  talent — not 
money — makes  it." 

After  these  eloquent  and  deserved  tributes,  little  remains  for 
our  partial  pen  to  add.  We  have  known  him  well  since  1834, 
in  his  various  relations,  as  a  teacher,  as  a  clergyman,  as  a  Pro-. 
fessor,  as  a  correspondent,  and  as  a  friend.  During  the  quarter- 
of  a  century  that  he  devoted  hirr.self  to  the  instruction  of  youth, 
to  the  labors  of  authorship,  and  to  scientific  research,  he  exhibited 
himself  as  an  unselfish  and  unambitious  man.  He  loved  his  pu-. 
pils,  his  friends,  his  church,  his  associates,  his  State,  his  town, 
and.  above  all,  his  home.  As  a  teacher,  he  was  kind  and  tlio-- 


46 

rough ;  as  a  clergyman,  what  has  been  appropriately  called  his 
"deep  and  unconquerable  modesty  of  spirit,"  prevented  his  ever 
rising  above  the  Diaconate  in  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church. 
As  a  fellow  clergyman  in  that  able  paper,  the  New  York  Church 
Journal  writes  :  "  the  uncertainty  of  his  health  for  many  years 
past  prevented  his  undertaking  the  labors  of  a  parish.  His  gen 
tle,  quiet,  and  deep  piety  of  character  won  him  universal  esteem. 
He  was  chiefly  known  by  the  many  works  in  which  he  has  em 
bodied  the  history,  the  topography  and  the  natural  endowment  of 
his  native  State.  In  natural  science,  his  proficiency  was  so  re 
markable  that  he  was  in  correspondence  with  most  of  the  leading 
Naturalists  of  this  country  and  many  of  those  abroad.  He  re 
ceived  one  of  the  medals  of  the  late  French  Exhibition  in  this  de 
partment.  His  place  thus  made  vacant  in  Vermont,  it  will  be 
hard  to  fill." 

As  an  author,  he  has  won  high  distinction  for  the  profundity 
of  his  research,  and  wonderful  accuracy  of  date  and  detail  has 
characterized  all  of  his  historical  productions.  His  astronomical 
and  meteorological  observations  were  carefully  made  and  noted, 
and  he  was  one  of  the  best  and  most  reliable  correspondents  of 
the  Smithsonian  Institute. 

As  his  life  has  been  chiefly  spent  in  the  development  and  illus 
tration  of  the  natural  productions  of  his  native  State ;  the  scien 
tific  world,  and  especially  Vermonters,  will  cherish  his  memory  as 
that  of  a  man  who  devoted  his  life  with  energy  and  singleness  of 
purpose  to  objects  of  lasting  interest  and  usefulness  to  the  whole 
community. 

In  all  of  these  note-worthy  respects,  he  was  not  unlike  the  ven 
erable  Professor  T.  Romeyn  Beck,  author  of  the  valuable  work 
on  Medical  Jurisprudence  who  died  in  November  last  at  Albany, 
N.  Y.j  after  having  been  identified  for  forty  years  with  every 
leading  measure  in  the  State  of  New  York  for  the  promotion  of 
education  and  medical  and  general  science  and  letters.  Dr. 
Beck,  too,  was  a  teacher  of  youth,  and  for  more  than  twenty 
years  of  the  early  part  of  his  life,  was  the  Principal  of  the  Al 
bany  Academy.  Dr.  Beck  was,  like  Prof.  Thompson,  unambi 
tious  and  unselfish  ;  and  both  occupied  comparatively  humble  po 
sitions,  but  only  for  the  purpose  of  doing  good.  Both  Professors 
aimed  to  render  their  scientific  and  literary  attainments  available, 


47 

and  both  regarded  their  knowledge  as  holden  in  trust  for  the  good 
of  others.  The  minds  of  both  bore  fruit  for  the  world.  Both 
were  men  of  "  simple  manners,  genial  nature,  social  habits,  large 
humanity  and  radiant  faith.  The  efforts  of  both  to  promote  edu 
cation,  science,  improvement,  virtue  and  Christianity,  were  always 
well  and  wisely  directed."  Their  associations  through  life  were 
with  the  truly  good  and  great.  The  society  of  both  was  sought 
by  those  who  could  appreciate  public  worth  and  social  excellence. 
In  the  halls  of  the  Academy  and  the  Capitol ;  in  the  recitation 
room  and  cabinet  of  the  University  which  their  presence  once 
brightened  and  gladdened,  there  are  now  darkness  and  sorrow. 
Let  the  memory  of  such  men  be  kept  in  perpetual  bloom  ! 

SUUM  CUIQUE. 
ST.  ALBANS,  VT. 


APPENDIX  II. 


An  Act  to  provide  for  a  Geological  Suryey  of 

the  State. 


'SECTION 


K      Governor    directed    to    appoint    a 

State  Geologist. 
2.      State    Geologist  may  appoint  and 


SECTION 

3.  Duties  of  the  State  Geologist. 

4.  Appropriation  of  two  thousand  dol 
lars  annually  for 'three  years. 


direct  assistants.  j  5.      Auditor  to  allow  accounts,  &c. 

SEC.  1.  The  (governor  is  hereby  authorized  and  directed  to  ap 
point  a  State  Geologist,  who  shall  have  a  competent  knowledge  of 
scientific  and  practical  geology  and  mineralogy,  and  shall  be  sub 
ject  to  the  orders  of  the  Governor  for  the  time  being,  and  remov 
able  at  his  pleasure, 

SEC.  2,  The  State  Geologist,  with  the  approbation  of  the  Gov 
ernor,  shall,  from  time  to  time,  appoint  all  proper  and  necessary 
assistants,  fix  their  compensations,  direct  them  in  their  labors  and 
remove  them  and  appoint  others  whenever  it  shall  be  found  neces 
sary  or  expedient 

SEC.  3,  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  State  Geologist,  as  soon  as 
practicable,  to  commence  and  prosecute  a  thorough  geological  and 
mineralogical  survey  of  the  State,  embracing  therein  a  full  and 
scientific  examination  and  description  of  its  rocks,  soils,  metals, 
and  minerals  ;  make  careful  and  complete  assays  and  analyses  of 
the  same,  and  annually,  on  or  before  the  first  day  of  October,  to  re 
port  to  the  Governor  the  progress  of  the  work,  the  most  efficient 
and  economical  manner  of  conducting  it,  and  an  estimate  of  the  ex 
pense  for  the  ensuing  year. 

SEC.  4.  For  the  purpose  of  carrying  into  eflect  the  provisions 


50 

of  this  act,  the  sum  of  two  thousand  dollars,  annually,  for  the  term 
of  three  years,  is  hereby  appropriated. 

SEC.  5.  All  claims,  under  the  provisions  of  this  act,  shall  be 
presented  to  the  auditor  of  accounts,  for  allowance,  who  shall  draw 
orders  on  the  Treasurer  of  the  State  for  the  amount  he  shall  find 
due,  equal  to,  but  not  exceeding  in  any  year,  the  annual  appropri 
ation. 

Approved,  October  28, 1844. 


APPENDIX  III. 


An  Act  to  provide  for  completing  the  Geologi 
cal  Survey  of  the  State. 


SECTION 

1.  The  governor  to  appoint  Professor 
Zadock  Thompson,  State  Natural 
ist  to  be  subject  to  his  orders  and  re 
movable  at  discretion. 

2.  Duties   of  State  Naturalist. 

3.  When  facts,  &c.  are  collected  suf 
ficient  to  make  a  volume  of  five  hun 
dred  pages  octavo,  State  Naturalist 
to  make  report  to  Secretary  of  State, 
with  estimate  of  cost  of  publication. 
Secretary  of  State  to  issue  circulars 
to  the  several  town  clerks,  specifying 
number,  &c.  of  engravings,  and  also 
to  publishers  of  newspapers.    Town 
clerks  to  receive  and  return  subscrip 
tions  within  forty  days. 

4.  Sec'y  of  State  to  issue  proposals  for 


SECTION 

time  and  place  to  examine,  and  accept 
the  lowest  responsible  bid.  Secretary 
to  take  a  bond  from  the  person  whose 
proposal  is  accepted,  in  double  the 
cost  of  the  work.  Secretary  to  distri 
bute  the  work  to  the  constables  of  the 
several  towns,  who  shall  collect  the 
cost  and  pay  the  same  into  the  state 
treasury. 

5.  Volumes  under  the  second  and  third 
titles  to  be    published  agreeably  to 
sections  three  and  four. 

6.  One  thousand  dollars  appropriated 
annually,  for  three  years,  and  until 
otherwise  ordered. 

7.  Auditors  of  accounts  to  receive  and 
allow  all  accounts,  equal  to,  but  not 
exceeding  the  annual  appropriation. 


printing  said  work,  and  that  specified 

It  is  hereby  enacted  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of 
Vermont,  as  follows  : 

SEC.  1.  The  Governor  is  hereby^directed  and  authorized  to 
appoint  Professor  Zadock  Thompson,  State  Naturalist ;  who  shall 
be  subject  to  the  orders  of  the  Governor,  for  the  time  being,  and 
removable  in  his  discretion. 

SEC.  2.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  State  Naturalist  to  enter, 
as  soon  as  practicable,  upon  a  thorough  prosecution  and  comple 
tion  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  the  State,  embracing  therein  a 


52 

full  and  scientific  examination  and  description  of  its   rocks,  soils 
metals  and  minerals  ;  make  careful  and  complete  assays  and  analy 
ses  of  the  same,  and  prepare  the  results  of  his  labors  for  publica 
tion  under  the  three  following  titles,  to  wit  : 

First — Physical  Geography.  Scientific  Geology  and  Mineral 
ogy- 

Second — Economical  Geology,  embracing  Botany  and  Agri 
culture. 

Third — General  Zoology  of  the  State. 

SEC.  3.  Whenever  sufficient  facts  and  materials  shall  have 
been  collected  upon  the  first  of  the  above  named  subjects  to  form 
a  volume  of  not  less  than  five  hundred  pages  octavo,  the  State 
Naturalist  shall  make  report  thereof  to  the  Secretary  of  State 
with  an  estimate  of  the  size  and  probable  cost  of  publication,  who 
shall  immediately  issue  a  circular  addressed  to  the  several  town 
clerks  in  the  state,  specifying  the  nature,  size,  number  of  engra 
vings,  and  estimated  cost  of  the  work,  and  requesting  them  to 
post  up  such  circular  in  their  respective  offices  ;  also  to  convey 
notices  of  such  circular  to  the  public  by  such  other  means  as  they 
may  adopt  to  receive  subscriptions  for  the  work,  and  within  forty 
days  from  the  time  of  their  receiving  such  circular,  return  such 
subscriptions  to  the  said  secretary  ;  and  said  secretary  shall  also 
transmit  like  circulars  to  all  the  publishers  of  newspapers  printed 
within  this  State,  with  a  request  for  gratuitous  publication  of  the 
same. 

SEC.  4.  Immediately  upon  the  expiration  of  the  above  named 
period  and  the  return  of  said  subscriptions,  the  Secretary  of  State 
shall  issue  proposals  for  printing  said  work,  specifying  the  size 
and  quantity  of  engravings,  style  of  binding,  quality  of  paper  and 
number  of  volumes  required,  which  shall  not  exceed  more  than 
one  fifth  the  whole  number  of  subscriptions  returned ;  the  period 
within  which  said  work  shall  be  completed  and  the  time  and  place 
for  opening  bids ;  and  at  the  said  specified  time  and  place 
the  said  secretary  shall  open  and  examine  the  bids,  and  the  lowest 
bid,  having  due  regard  to  the  ability  and  responsibility  of  the  per 
sons  making  the  same,  shall  be  accepted.  And  the  said  secretary 
shall  take  a  bond  from  the  person  whose  bid  is  accepted,  con 
ditioned  upon  faithful  performance  of  his  said  contract,  in  a  sum 
not  less  than  double  the  cost  of  the  work.  And  when  the  said 
•work  shall  be  completed  and  accepted  by  said  secretary,  he  shall 


58 

cause  to  be  sent  to  the  constable  of  each  town  such  number  of  vol 
umes  as  have  been  subscribed  for  in  such  town,  with  a  list  of  such 
subscriptions,  and  each  of  said  constables  shall  deliver  the  said 
volumes,  collect  the  actual  cost  thereof,  and  pay  over  the  same  into 
the  treasury  of  the  State. 

SEC.  5.  Whenever  sufficient  facts  and  materials  shall  have 
been  collected  and  arranged  under  the  second  and  third  titles 
specified  in  section  second,  the  same  shall  be  published  in  their 
order  agreeably  to  the  provisions  of  sections  three  and  four  of  this 
act. 

SEC.  6.  The  sum  of  one  thousand  dollars,  annually,  is  hereby 
appropriated  for  the  term  of  three  years,  and  until  otherwise  or 
dered  by  the  legislature  of  this  State,  for  the  purpose  of  carrying 
into  effect  the  provisions  of  this  act. 

SEC.  7.  All  claims  under  this  act  shall  be  presented  to  the 
auditor  of  accounts  for  allowance,  who  shall  draw  orde-rs  on  the 
treasurer  of  the  State  for  the  amount  he  shall  find  due,  equal  to  but 
not  exceeding,  in  any  year,  the  annual  appropriation. 

Approved,  December  6, 1853. 


APPENDIX   IV. 


Report  of  Zadock  Thompson, 

ON    THE   GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY. 

To  His  Excellency, 

CARLOS  COOLIDGE,  ESQ., 

Governor  of  Vermont : 

SIR: — Having  been  commissioned  by  your  Excellency  to  carry 
into  effect  a  resolution  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Vermont,  passed 
at  their  session  in  1848,  in  relation  to  the  materials  of  the  Geolo 
gical  Survey  of  the  State,  I  beg  leave  to  submit  the  following 

REPORT  I 

In  the  fall  of  1847,  Prof.  C.  B.  Adams,  the  State  Geologist,  hav 
ing  accepted  a  Professorship  in  Amherst  College,  Massachusetts, 
and  being  about  to  remove  his  family  out  of  the  State,  directed  me 
as  Assistant  Geologist,  to  obtain  a  suitable  room  in  Bnrlington,  to 
serve  as  a  depot  for  the  specimens  and  materials  of  the  Survey 
which  were  to  remain  in  the  State.  The  room  being  provided 
about  the  1st  of  Oct.  1847,  materials,  consisting  of  boxes  of  spec 
imens,  furniture  for  the  room,  tools,  &c.,  to  the  amount  of  several 
tons,  were  forwarded  from  Middlebury  to  Burlington,  and  deposi 
ted  in  it.  The  State  Geologist  removed  to  Amherst  some  time  in 
October,  and,  expecting  that  provision  would  be  made  by  the  Leg 
islature  for  the  completion  of  the  Survey  and  the  preparation  of 
a  Final  Report,  he  took  with  him  the  field  notes  and  manuscripts,  a 
portion  of  the  tools  and  the  furniture  of  the  depot,  the  specimens 
which  had  been  ticketed  for  the  state  collection,  and  all  the  speci 
mens  containing  fossil,  or  organic  remains. 


56 

Thinking  that  the  General  Assembly,  when  adopting  the  rds* 
olution  for  the  collection  of  all  the  materials  of  the  Survey  at  Mont- 
pclier,  might,  perhaps,  be  unaware  of  the  amount  of  transportation, 
which  would  be  required,  and  of  the  unnecessary  expense  and  in 
convenience,  which  would  be  incurred  by  carrying  out  the  resolution 
literally,  I  ventured  to  inform  your^Excellency  of  the  amount  and 
conditions  of  the  articles  at  Burlington,  and  with  your  consent  have 
suffered  them  to  remain  unmoved. 

Professor  Adams,  who  had  in  his  possession  the  materials  of  the 
Survey,  which  had  been  carried  to  Amherst,  left  that  place  before 
I  received  my  appointment,  and  passed  the  winter  at  Jamaica  in  the 
West  Indies.  He  returned  to  Amherst  in  May,  and  in  the  latter 
part  of  that  month,  I  went  to  that  place  and  procured  from  him  the 
field  notes  and  tools,  and  the  specimens  which  had  been  ticketed 
for  the  State  collection.  The  specimens  containing  fossils,  were 
unticketed,  and  Prof.  Adams  was  entitled  to  a  share  of  these  in  virtue 
of  an  arrangement  between  him  and  Gov.  Slade,  when  he  received 
the  appointment  of  State  Geologist.  He  also  had  a  claim  for  the 
rent  of  the  room  at  Amherst,  in  which  the  materials  were  kept. 
Being  in  doubt  whether  I  was  authorized  by  the  resolution  to 
make  the  division  of  the  specimens,  and  to  pay  rent,  I  returned  to 
obtain  the  advice  and  direction  of  your  Excellency.  After  receiving 
it  I  again  proceeded  to  Amherst,  divided  the  fossils  with  Prof.  Ad 
ams,  paid  the  rent  of  the  room  with  articles  of  furniture,  which  would 
cost  in  the  State  but  little  more  than  their  freight  from  Amherst 
to  Montpelier,  and  forwarded  the  fossils,  belonging  to  the  State 
and  the  remaining  articles  of  furniture,  to  Montpelier. 

The  materials  of  the  Survey  delivered  into  the  charge  of  the 
State  Librarian,  consist  of  one  roll  of  maps,  one  box,  containing 
manuscripts  and  tools,  11  boxes  of  specimens  ticketed  for  the  State 
Collections,  11  boxes  of  specimens  containing  fossils,  which  are 
unticketed,  1C  trays  for  minerals,  and  two  small  stands. 

The  materials  in  the  room  at  Burlington,  consist  of  a  variety 
of  tools  and  furniture,  and  about  50  boxes  of  specimens  which  are 
untrimmed  and  unticketed,  being  in  the  crude  state  in  which  they 
were  collected  in  the  field.  The  gross  weight  of  these  50  boxes 
amounts  to  several  tons. 

The  first  11  boxes  of  specimensjmentioned  as  being  in  charge 
of  the  State  Librarian,  embrace  all  the  specimens  which  are  now  in 


57 

a  condition  to  be  placed  in  the  State  Cabinet.  Those  in  the  other 
11  boxes  at  Montpelier,  and  all  the  specimens  at  Burlington,  re 
quire  to  be  examined,  trimmed,  ticketed  and  catalogued,  to  make 
them  valuable  in  the  State  collection  or  in  any  other. 

The  room  in  Burlington,  in  which  the  materials  of  the  Survey 
are  deposited,  was  hired  by  direction  of  the  State  Geologist  at  an 
annual  rent  of  $20.  This  rent  since  Oct.  1847,  has  not  been  paid. 
I  am  informed  that  all  the  money  appropriated  has  been  expended. 
I  also  find  an  unpaid  bill  of  $1,62  for  transportation,  which  has 
not  been  embraced  in  the  accounts  paid  by  the  Auditor.  These 
amounting  to  $42,62, 1  believe  to  embrace  all  the  indebtedness  of 
the  Survey. 

With  the  highest  respect,  I  am 

Your  Excellency's  ob't  serv't, 

Z.  THOMPSON. 

Montpelier,  Oct.  11, 1849. 


APPENDIX  V. 


Mr.  Eaton's  Report. 


IN  SENATE,  OCT.  31,  1837. 

Mr.  Eaton,  from  the  Committee  on  Education,  to  whom  was  re 
ferred  the  communication  of  His  Excellency,  the  Governor,  with, 
accompanying  documents,  on  the  subject  of  a  Geological  and  To 
pographical  Survey  of  the  State,  submitted  a  Report,  from  which 
the  following  is  an  extract : 

"  In  a  Geological  Survey  the  various  rock  formations  which 
support  the  soil  must  be  ascertained,  and  their  characters  and 
their  relations  must  be  compared  with  those  of  similar  rocks  in 
other  parts  of  the  world.  The  peculiarities  of  known  mineral 
veins — the  regions  where  valuable  mineral  treasures,  such  as  me 
tallic  ores,  coal  beds,  marl  bottoms,  useful  substances  for  archi 
tectural  and  other  purposes,  may  exist,  and  of  course  be  wisely 
sought  for,  must  be  pointed  out,  and  also  the  regions  where,  judg 
ing  from  the  experience  of  the  world,  it  will  be  in  vain  to  look  for 
them.  The  nature  of  the  various  coverings  which  overlie  the 
solid  foundations  of  the  State  must  also  be  investigated,  and  their 
relations  to  the  natural  and  artificial  vegetation  found  on  them. 
The  connection  of  these  facts  with  such  natural  causes  as  are 
known  to  have  operated  in  the  world,  or  are  now  in  action,  needs 
also  to  be  traced  as  far  as  practicable." 

The  importance,  then,  of  these  Surveys  would  perhaps  be  suffi 
ciently  obvious  to  every  intelligent  mind.  The  Legislatures  of 
some  of  the  neighboring  states  have  so  far  appreciated  their 
value  and  importance  as  to  order  them — more  especially  Geologi 
cal  Surveys — made  at  the  public  expense ;  and  in  other  in- 


60 

stances,  individuals,  prompted  by  the  love  of  science,  and  a  de 
sire  to  extend  the  blessings  it  confers  upon  mankind,  have  pur 
sued  their  labors  and  enquiries  to  a  very  considerable  extent. 
And  wherever  these  surveys  have  been  made,  they  have  been  at 
tended  with  useful  results  to  the  various  branches  of  industry  and 
enterprize. 

But  although  the  Committee  have  thus  classed  these  surveys 
together,  and  acknowledged  the  importance  of  both ;  still  their 
execution  is  not  necessarily  connected,  and  there  is,  in  the  esti 
mation  of  your  Committee,  a  considerable  difference  between  them 
in  point  of  immediate  practical  utility.  It  is  true  a  Topographical 
Survey,  by  fixing  certain  station  points  in  various  parts  of  the 
State  and  determining  their  relative  height,  with  their  distances 
and  direction  from  each  other — 'and  by  ascertaining  the  drainage 
or  fall  of  streams  from  their  sources  to  their  mouths,  would  form 
data  for  calculation  relative  to  the  construction  of  canals  and  rail 
roads.  It  would  enable  us,  likewise,  in  any  given  place  to  deter 
mine  the  position  or  direction  of  the  true  meridian ;  to  settle  the 
boundaries  of  towns  and  counties  with  such  unvarying  precision  as 
almost  to  supersede  the  necessity  of  the  usual  landmarks ;  to  ascer 
tain  with  unerring  certainty  from  time  to  time  the  variations  of  the 
magnetic  needle — without  having  recourse  to  the  more  tedious  pro 
cess  of  astronomical  calculations,  now  so  often  necessary  to  deter 
mine  these  points.  These,  it  must  be  admitted  in  general  terms,  are 
objects  of  high  importance.  But  the  data  which  would  be  indis 
pensable  in  calculations  relative  to  the  construction  of  canals  and 
railroads,  would  be  of  little  practical  use  until  business  and  wealth 
should  indicate  the  necessity  and  furnish  the  means  of  putting 
these  works  in  operation  ;  and  the  other  advantages  which  have 
been  alluded  to,  can  be  dispensed  with,  although  at  the  expense 
of  some  inconvenience^  and  perhaps  at  times  uncertainty^  in  im 
portant  calculations. 

That  some  preliminary  facts,  relative  to  the  Topography  of  the 
State,  would  form  a  starting  point  for  geological  investigation,  and 
in  a  considerable  degree  facilitate  its  progress,  is  readily  admitted  ; 
and  if  it  were  a  settled  point  that  both  Surveys  should  be  under 
taken  within  a  few  years,  unquestionably  the  Topographical 
should  take  precedence  in  order  of  time.  But  as  one  is  not  es 
sential  to  the  accomplishment  of  the  other,  and  as  the  expense  of 


61 

an  accurate  Topographical  Survey,  carried  only  to  such  an  extent 
as  would  doubtless  be  deemed  advisable,  if  it  were  undertaken  at 
all,  would  be,  according  to  the  estimates  before  us,  not  less  than 
ten  or  twelve  thousand  dollars,  the  Committee,  in  view  of  the  con 
siderations  already  suggested,  and  others  yet  to  be  adverted  to, 
are  of  the  opinion  that  a  Geological  Survey  should  be  first  under 
taken,  leaving  the  other  enterprise  to  some  future  period,  when 
its  execution  should  be  more  imperiously  demanded  by  the  wants, 
and  more  clearly  justified  by  the  wealth  of  the  State.  If  this 
order  of  proceeding  were  adopted,  the  relative  localities  of  various 
formations  could  not,  it  is  true,  be  so  precisely  determined ;  but 
still  the  positive  location  of  each  could  be  marked  by  indicating- 
its  position  relative  to  other  fixed  objects  ;  and  the  names  of  towns 
would  have  to  be  substituted,  in  a  description,  for  those  of  some 
more  definite  points,  whose  precise  relations  could  be  universally 
known. 

It  might  be  thought  by  some  lovers  of  science,  who  look  at  the 
remote  as  well  as  at  the  immediate  advantages  which  science 
always  brings,  that  the  Committee  have  taken  a  narrow  and  lim 
ited  view  of  the  subject,  and  that  they  should  have  recommended 
the  immediate  execution  of  a  Topographical  Survey,  in  terms  of 
the  warmest  commendation.  But  representatives,  as  they  are,  of 
a  peculiarly  practical  and  real-life  people,  they  would  not,  what 
ever  might  be  their  own  private  opinions,  feel  justified  in  recom 
mending  to  them  any  expensive  enterprize  from  which  they  could 
not  expect  to  derive  some  direct,  as  well  as  definite  and  tangible 
advantage. 

But  it  does  not  require  any  broad  and  comprehensive  view  of 
the  subject  in  order  to  discover  the  immediate  and  direct  benefits 
to  be  derived  from  a  Geological  Survey  of  the  State.  These 
benefits  are  too  clear  and  obvious  not  to  be]  discernible  at  the 
most  hasty  glance.  If  they  were  limited  to  a  development  of  our 
mineral  products,  in  the  shape  of  metallic  ores,  (as  some  might  be 
disposed  to  limit  them,  if  they  had  made  no  inquiry  to  ascertain 
the  proper  boundaries  of  geological  research,  and  the  appropriate 
objects  which  come  within  its  scope,)  even  this  would  not  be  deemed 
a  matter  of  small  importance.  Accident,  without  the  aid  of  any 
thing  like  scientific  and  systematic  investigation,  has  already 
brought  to  light  many  valuable  treasures  in  the  shape  of  iron, 


02 

copperas,  manganese,  marble,  &c.,  whose  importance  as  sources 
of  wealth  to  our  State,  none  can  fail  to  appreciate.  What  other 
additional  discoveries  might  be  made  by  a  thorough  Geological 
Survey,  its  accomplishment  alone  could  determine.  Another  obvi 
ous  and  palpable  benefit  to  be  derived  from  such  a  survey,  would 
be  the  prevention  of  those  fruitless  searches  so  often  engaged  in 
at  the  expense  of  much  time  and  labor,  for  discovering  articles, 
which  the  science  of  Geology  might  assure  us  are  not  to  be  found 
within  our  limits.  We  might,  as  one  of  these  visionary  schemes, 
name  the  project  of  boring  for  salt  water,  entered  into  a  few 
years  since  in  this  State.  Geology,  on  the  authority  of  well 
known  laws,  would  have  informed  us  beforehand  that  the  search 
would  end  in  disappointment — that  we  might  as  well  expect  to 
find  the  white  bear  of  the  polar  regions  herding  with  lion  in 
an  African  desert,  as  to  find  salt  springs  in  such  a  locality,  or 
amidst  such  geological  formations  as  this  part  of  the  country 
exhibits. 

But  when  we  enter  further  into  the  broad  field  of  inquiry,  which 
the  science  of  Geology  legitimately  opens  before  us.  we  find  other 
ends  to  be  accomplished  and  oilier  advantages  to  be  acquired,  be 
sides  the  mere  discovery  of  what  are  usually  termed  mineral 
treasures.  Among  the  most  prominent  and  important  of  these 
advantages  would  be  the  development  of  facts  having  a  direct 
bearing  upon  the  advancement  of  agricultural  science.  The  va 
rious  kinds  of  soil  which  the  surface  of  the  globe  exhibits,  con 
sist  of  decomposed  rocks,  and  are  as  easily  reducible  to  a  regular 
and  exact  classification  as  are  any  of  the  various  mineral  produc 
tions  which  lie  scattered  over  the  surface  of  the  earth,  or  imbedded 
in  its  bosom.  Geology  gives  to  each  of  these  various  kinds  and 
varieties  of  soil,  its  specific  name.  Each  of  these  varieties  of  soil, 
too,  is  more  especially  favorable  to  the  growth  of  some  certain 
vegetable  products.  There  is  scarcely  a  tree,  a  plant,  or  a 
flower  that  does  not  manifest  a  londness  for  some  certain  locality, 
and  exhibit  an  attachment  to  some  particular  soil  as  most  con 
genial  to  its  nature.  And  it  comes  within  the  legitimate  province 
of  Geology  to  note  these  facts.  There  is  then,  most  clearly,  an 
intimate  relationship  between  this  science  and  that  of  agricul 
ture,  and  in  truth  the  former  might  be  said  to  constitute  the  basis 
of  the  latter.  And  your  Committee  believe  that  the  proposed 


63 

survey  would  give  to  the  agricultural  interest  in  this  State  a 
new  impulse,  and  inspire  it  with  new  life  ;  especially  if  those  en 
trusted  with  the  execution  of  the  enterprise,  were  instructed  to 
keep  this  object  steadily  in  view.  There  are  in  every  town  in 
this  State  intelligent  men,  whose  knowledge  of  these  sciences  and 
their  relations  is  indeed  limited,  but  who  are  capable  of  appre 
ciating  their  importance,  and  would  acquire,  in  the  progress  of 
the  work  contemplated,  a  vast  amount  of  practical  information, 
which  would  gradually  be  diffused  through  every  town  and  neigh 
borhood  in  the  State.  Among  other  beneficial  results  of  this  in 
formation,  one  would  doubtless  be  the  prevention  of  those  errors 
so  often  practised,  of  committing  plants  to  inappropriate  and  un 
congenial  soils — errors  which  are  as  certain  to  insure  a  failure,  as 
would  be  the  planting  of  the  hyacinth  upon  the  brow  of  the 
volcano. 

Admitting  then  the  utility  of  the  measure  proposed,  the  next 
question  which  would  properly  present  itself  for  consideration 
would  be  its  expense.  From  the  estimate  made  by  Prof.  Bene 
dict,  apparently  with  much  care,  it  might  safely  be  set  down  as 
not  exceeding  twelve  thousand  dollars,  including  the  expense  of 
publishing  the  necessary  report.  This  would  amount  to  less  than 
five  cents  for  each  individual  in  the  State,  and  the  payment  of  this 
sum  might,  as  suggested  by  Prof.  Benedict,  be  extended  into  two, 
three,  or  more  years,  according  as  it  should  be  deemed  expedient 
to  prosecute  the  work  with  greater  or  less  rapidity.  And  in 
view  of  the  immense  benefit  to  be  derived,  your  Committee  has 
no  hesitancy  in  expressing  the  opinion  that  the  work  should  be 
immediately  undertaken. 

But  inasmuch  as  the  subject  has  been  never  fully  before  the 
people  of  the  State,  and  the  measure  proposed  involves  considera 
ble  expense,  they  forbear  recommending  any  appropriation  for  this 
object  the  present  session — choosing  to  leave  the  decision  of  the 
question  to  the  intelligence  of  the  people — confident  in  the  belief 
that  they  will  appreciate  the  importance  of  the  subject,  and  that 
the  popular  voice  will  demand  the  commencement  of  the  enterprize 
another  year. 


APPENDIX  VI. 


Extract  from  Prof.  Thompson's  Address,  on  the 
Natural  History  of  Vermont. 


The  Green  Mountains  have,  for  some  years  past,  presented  to 
geologists  an  interesting  problem,  which  was — the  determination 
of  their  geological  ogc  and  character,  and  particularly  the  age  and 
character  of  that  portion  of  the  western  slope  of  these  mountains 
which  have  been  denominated  the  Taconic  System.  And  as  the 
larger  part  of  this  range  of  mountains  was  within  the  limits  of 
Vermont,  the  attention  of  the  geologists  of  the  country  was  direct- 
ted  to  the  geological  survey  of  that  State,  as  being  likely  to  fur 
nish  a  satisfactory  solution  of  the  problem-  and  during  the  con 
tinuance  of  the  survey,  that  object  was  kept  constantly  in  view  by 
those  engaged  in  it.  Many  sections  were  traced  from  the  well 
known  Silurian  rocks,  which  occupy  the  valley  of  Lake  Champlain, 
to  the  center  of  the  Green  Mountain  range,  and  many  facts  were 
brought  to  light  which  have  an  important  bearing  upon  the  prob 
lem  which  I  have  mentioned ;  but  just  as  the  examinations  wrere 
being  completed,  and  the  results  and  facts  were  to  be  brought  to 
gether,  systematized  and  weighed,  the  survey  was  suspended  ;  and 
whether  it  will  ever  be  resumed  or  not,  is  a  problem  which  time 
only  can  solve. 

The  rocks  in  the  western  part  of  Yermont,  in  the  valley  of 
Lake  Champlain,  arc  highly  fossiliferous  and  clearly  belong  to 
that  portion  of  the  lower  Silurian,  denominated  by  the  New  York 
geologists,  the  Champlain  group.  To  the  eastward  of  these,  and 
mostly  in  the  south  part  of  the  State,  lie  the  so-called  Taconic 
9 


66 

rocks.  These  last  consist  principally  of  slates,  limestone,*  and 
quartz  rock.  A  few  fossils  are  believed  to  have  been  found  in 
them,  but  they  are  extremely  rare  and  obscure  ;  and  the  question 
with  regard  to  these  rocks  is,  as  I  understand  it,  whether  they  are 
a  series  of  fossiliferous  rocks  which  are  older  than  the  Champlain 
group,  or  arc  metamorphic  members  of  that  group,  whose  fossils 
have  been  mostly  obliterated  by  heat. 

To  the  eastward  of  the  Champlain  and  Taconic  group,  I  am  not 
aware  that  any  fossiliferous  rocks  have  been  found,  in  place,  with 
in  the  State.  Lying  next  to  these,  is  a  belt  of talcoso  slate  forma 
tion,  varying  from  15  to  30  miles  in  width,  and  extending  through 
the  entire  length  of  the  State  from  south  to  north.  This  belt  em 
braces  all  the  highest  summits  of  the  Green  Mountain  range.  The 
rocks,  though  generally  more  or  less  talcose,  contain  in  many 
places,  a  large  proportion  of  mica,  and  in  some  places  are  highly 
chloritic.  Near  the  eastern  margin  of  this  belt  there  is  a  narrow 
range  of  steatite,  extending  through  the  State,  having  associated 
with  it  or  embraced  within  it,  in  many  places,  extensive  beds  of  ser 
pentine  rock,  which  are  capable  of  furnishing,  in  great  abundance 
and  of  excellent  quality,  that  beautiful  variety  of  magnesian  marble, 
called  Verd  Antique.  In  this  serpentine,  in  the  north  part  of  the 
State,  large  veins  of  the  magnetic  oxyde,  and  also  of  the  chromic 
iron,  have  been  opened.  The  whole  belt  which  I  have  mentioned, 
is  entirely  destitute,  certainly  in  the  north  half  of  the  State,  both 
of  limestone  and  granite. 

Between  this  belt  of  talcose  rocks  and  Connecticut  river,  the 
formation  consists  of  clay,  mica,  hornblende,  and  talcose  slates, 
gneiss  and  limestone  frequently  interstratified,  and  of  numerous 
protrusions,  and  some  extensive  regions  of  granite.  This  granite 
is  of  excellent  quality  for  building-stone,  but  the  limestone  of  this 
formation  is  all  too  silicious  for  the  manufacture  of  good  quick- 
lime.t 

*  The  limestone  of  this  series  furnishes  inexhaustible  quarries  of  the  most  beautiful 
white  marble. 

f  While  all  the  western  parts  of  Vermont  abound  in  the  best  of  limestone,  there  is  in 
the  eastern  and  north-eastern  parts  of  the  State  no  limestone  from  which  good  quick 
lime  can  be  made.  In  the  south- vestern  part  of  Windsor  connty,  and  western  part  of 
Windham  county,  there  is  a  gray  limestone,  and  in  the  north-eastern  part  of  the  State 
are  extensive  beds  of  shell  marl,  which  make  a  tolerable  lime  for  ordinary  purposes. 
The  marl-beds  were  originally  formed  in  the  bottoms  of  ponds ;  but  these  ponds  have,  in 


67 

One  of  the  most  marked  peculiarities  in  the  geology  of  Vermont, 
is  found  in  the  general  dip  of  the  stratified  rocks,  which  is,  with  a 
few  trifling  exceptions,  towards  a  synclinal  axis  extending  north 
and  south  near  the  center  of  the  Green  Mountain  range.  Along 
the  shore  of  Lake  Champlain  the  rocks  are  nearly  horizontal, 
having  only  a  slight  easterly  dip  ;  but  the  dip  increases  pretty 
uniformly,  in  proceeding  eastward,  till  it  becomes  vertical  at  a 
line  a  little  westward  of  the  principal  summits  of  the  Green  Moun 
tains.  From  this  line,  for  a  distance  of  seven  or  eight  miles  east 
ward,  the  dip  of  the  strata  continues  nearly  vertical.  This  space 
embraces  the  highest  part  of  the  mountain  range,  and.  to  the 
eastward  of  it,  the  general  dip  of  the  rocks  is  distinctly  westward  ; 
but  the  rocks  are  here  more  disturbed,  and  the  dip  less  uniform, 
than  on  the  west  side  of  the  mountains. 

With  regard  to  the  question,  whether  the  rocks,  which  form  the 
Green  Mountains  and  extend  eastward  to  Connecticut  river,  are 
truly  primary,  or  antepalaeozoic,  as  was  formerly  supposed,  or  are 
metamorphic  silurian  rocks,  which  are  newer  than  the  Champlain 
group,  as  has  been  more  recently  suspected,  I  would  only  observe 
that  evidence  in  favor  of  the  latter  opinion  was  constantly  accu 
mulating  during  the  continuance  of  our  survey,  and  has  been 
greatly  increased  by  the  labors  of  Mr.  Logan,  the  provincial  geol 
ogist  of  Canada,  along  our  northern  boundary. 

The  rocks  in  place,  in  Vermont,  arc,  for  the  most  part,  covered 
by  the  drift  formation  ;  but  wherever  exposed,  they  are  found  to  be 
worn  and  smoothed,  arid,  usually,  striated  or  scored  in  the  direc 
tion  in  which  the  drift  materials  have  been  transported,  which  is, 
generally,  from  a  little  west  of  north  to  a  little  east  of  south  ;  but 
this  direction  is,  in  various  places,  very  considerably  modified  by 
the  direction  of  the  ridges  and  valleys  being  north  and  south  in  the 
lower  parts  of  the  valleys  of  Lake  Champlain  and  of  Connecticut 
river,  but  from  north- west  to  south-east,  and  in  some  places  nearly 
from  west  to  east,  in  the  valleys  and  gorges  of  the  Green  Moun- 

many  cases,  entirely  disappeared,and  the  places  they  occupied  become  dry  laud,  One 
of  the  most  interesting  of  these  marl-beds  is  in  Williamsto\vn.  It  covers  about  seven 
acres, andis  in  some  parts  tSfeetdeep.  Itisa  very  pure  carbonate  of  lime,  consisting 
entirely  of  comminuted  fresh  water  shells.  This  marl  is  formed  into  a  paste,  moulded 
in  the  form  of  bricks,  and  then  burned  inakiln.  The  quicklime  thus  obtained  is  quite 
white,  and  for  most  purposes  is  scarcely  inferior  to  that  obtained  from  the  Champlain 
and  Taconic  limestone. 


68 

tains.  Vermont  furnishes  many  very  interesting  cases  of  the  trans 
portation  of  boulders  to  a  distance  of  many  miles  from  the  quarries 
in  which  they  originated,  Rolled  masses  of  a  peculiar  kind  of 
granite,  often  of  several  tons  weigh t,  are  found  scattered  over  the 
lower  parts  of  Caledonia  county,  from  20  to  30  miles  to  the  south 
eastward  of  the  locality,  in  Orleans  county,  from  which  they  were 
evidently  derived,  and  blocks  of  a  calcareous  sandstone,  found,  in 
place,  only  along  the  shore  of  Lake  Champlain,  are  met  with  far 
into  the  interior  of  the  State,  and,  in  some  cases,  to  the  eastward 
of  the  principal  summits  of  the  Green  Mountains.*  I  mention 
these  merely  as  examples.  Many  other  cases  might  be  adduced  of 
equal  interest. 

The  unstratified  drift  in  the  western  part  of  the  State,  and  the 
Champlain  rocks,  are  to  a  great  extent  covered  by  a  post-tertiary 
marine  deposit  of  stratified  sand  and  clay,  which  has  been  called 
the  Pleistocene  formation.  The  strata  of  this  formation  are  nearly 
horizontal,  and  are,  for  the  most  part,  undisturbed  and  regular, 
showing  that  they  were  deposited  in  a  tranquil  sea.  The  depth 
of  this  deposit,  in  places,  exceeds  100  feet,  and  the  highest  parts 
of  it  are  about  400  feet  above  the  present  level  of  the  ocean.  The 
fossils  found  in  it  are  considerably  numerous,  and  are,  in  general, 
such  as  are  now  found  in  a  living  state  on  the  coast  of  New  Eng 
land.  The  fossil  bones  of  a  small  species  of  whale,  which  Iliad 
the  pleasure  to  exhibit  before  this  Society  in  December  last,  were 
found  in  this  formation. 

From  the  remarks  which  I  have  made,  it  must  be  obvious  that 
Vermont  combines  in  its  geology  the  characteristics  of  western 
New  England  with  those  of  New  York.  The  meeting,  in  Vermont, 
of  two  great  botanical  and  zoological  districts  or  provinces,  is  equal 
ly  apparent. 

*  Some  of  thes 
cst  parts  of  the  same  rock  as  they  are  now  found  in  place. 


APPENDIX  VII. 


Extract  from  Prof.  Thompson's  Address  on  the 
Natural  History  of  Vermont. 


Vermont,  for  a  small  inland  State,  is  regarded  as  peculiarly  rich 
in  vegetable  productions  ;  and  some  portions  of  the  State  have  been 
pretty  thoroughly  explored  by  skillful  botanists.  When  its  settle 
ment  was  commenced,  its  entire  surface  was  covered  with  forests, 
which  were  probably  unsurpassed,  in  density  and  luxuriance,  by 
those  of  any  other  section  of  our  country  of  equal  area.  The 
sugar  maple  and  white  pine  found  no  where  else  a  more  congenial 
soil ;  and  the  evergreens,  spruce,  and  fir,  which  covered  the  surface 
of  our  mountains,  and  first  suggested  for  them  the  name  of  Verd 
Mont,  grow  to  a  respectable  size  almost  to  their  highest  summits, 
several  of  which  exceed  4,000  feet  in  height.  With  the  exception 
of  seven  or  eight  species,  our  list  of  forest  trees  embraces  all  that 
have  hitherto  been  found  in  New  England,  and  three,  or  more 
species,  which  have  been  found  in  no  other  New  England  State. 

Aside  from  the  marine  plants  furnished  by  the  sea  board,  and  a 
few  alpine  plants  found  on  the  White  Mountains  of  New  Hamp 
shire,  Vermont  is  known  to  produce  nearly  all  of  the  indigenous- 
plants  of  New  England,  and  in  addition  to  these,  some 40  or  more 
species,  which  are  not  found  in  any  other  New  England  State. 
These  forty  or  more  species,  which  are  not  found  to  the  eastward 
of  Vermont,  arc  mostly  confined  to  the  western  border  of  the  State 
and  are,  in  general,  such  as  are  common  in  the  State  of  New 
York,  arid  further  westward.  As  the  botany  of  Vermont  has  yet 
been  only  partially  explored,  there  still  being  considerable  sec-- 
tions  of  the  State  which  no  skillful  botanist  has  ever  visited,  it  is, 
not  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  many  new  plants  remain  to. 
stimulate  and  reward  the  labor  of  future  search. 

While  the  laborers  in  Vermont,  in  the  fields  of  Geology  and 


70 

Botany,  have  been  very  few,  those  engaged  in  the  investigation 
of  the  Zoology  of  the  State  have  been  still  fewer.  The  meagre 
account  of  our  animals  contained  in  Dr.  Williams'  valuable  history 
of  Vermont,  until  very  recently  embraced  almost  all  that  had  ever 
been  published  respecting  them.  But  that  work  was  written  at  a 
very  early  period,  when  the  subject  of  Natural  History,  in  this 
country,  was  little  understood,  and  when  an  examination  of  the 
State,  to  which  it  relates,  had  hardly  been  commenced.  In  that 
work,  (although  the  attempt  to  assign  to  our  animals  and  vegeta 
bles  their  scientific  names,  was  a  failure,)  he  collected  together 
from  the  hunters  and  early  settlers,  much  that  is  valuable  in  re 
lation  to  the  magnitude,  habits,  &c.,  of  our  larger  animals,  and 
saved  from  oblivion  many  facts  which  are  no  where  else  pre 
served. 

After  the  publication  of  Dr.  Williams'  history,  the  last  edition 
of  which  was  issued  more  than  forty  years  ago,  nothing  further 
was  published  respecting  the  Natural  History  of  the  State,  ex 
cepting  a  catalogue  of  Vermont  minerals  by  Prof.  Frederick  Hall, 
and  a  catalogue  of  the  plants  of  Mi  Idlebury  and  vicinity,  by  Dr. 
Edwin  James,  previous  to  the  publication  of  my  Natural  and 
Civil  History  of  the  State,  in  1842.  Having  myself,  devoted 
considerable  attention  to  the  vertebrata  of  the  State,  and  being 
kindly  aided  in  the  department  of  botany  by  the  late  William 
Oakes,  Esq.,  of  Ipswich,  Mass.,  and  in  conchology  by  Prof.  C.  B. 
Adams,  then  of  Middlebury  College,  with  occasional  assistance  in 
other  branches  of  zoology,  kindly  rendered  by  members  of  this 
Society,  I  was  enabled  to  embrace  in  that  work  nearly  all  that  was 
then  known  of  the  Natural  History  of  the  State.  Since  the 
issue  of  that  work,  much  more  has  been  done,  and  many  facts 
accumulated,  which  have  not  been  made  public,  and  still  the  in 
vestigation  of  some  branches  of  the  Natural  History  of  Vermont 
is  not  yet  commenced. 

Quadrupeds  and  birds  possess  such  facilities  for  locomotion, 
that  they  could  not  be  expected  in  Vermont  to  differ  much  from 
those  of  the  neighboring  States.  The  number  of  species  of  our 
native  quadrupeds,  which  have  been  carefully  determined,  is, 
at  least,  45  ;  and  of  birds  more  than  160  species  have  been  ascer 
tained. 

Our  largest  native  quadruped,  the  Moose,  which  grew  to  the 
size  of  an  Ox,  and  whose  flesh  furnished  to  our  early  settlers  an 


71 

excellent  substitute  for  beef,  is  now,  if  not  entirely  exterminated, 
confined  to  a  small  section  in  the  north-east  corner  of  the  State. 
The  Beaver,  whose  skin  was  once  an  important  article  of  export, 
is  wholly  extirpated.  The  Panther,  the  Wolf,  the  Wolverine, 
the  Deer,  the  Bear — in  short  all  the  larger  species,  have  been 
gradually  diminishing,  and  most  of  the  kinds  have  become  exceed 
ingly  rare.  The  native  black  Rat  (Mus  Americanus)  has  van 
ished  but  the  immigrant  gray  Rat,  (Mus  decnmanus)  has  in 
some  parts  of  the  State,  usurped  its  place,  and  has  become  a  great 
nuisance.  Yet  it  is  a  curious  fact  that  there  is.  in  the  north  part  of 
the  State,  an  extensive  region  which  has  been  settled  more  than 
half  a  century,  in  which,  it  said,  no  rats  were  ever  seen. 

In  the  birds  of  Vermont,  considerable  changes  have  taken  place 
since  the  settlement  of  the  country,  in  the  number  of  individuals 
of  the  same  species  at  different  periods  ;  and  there  have  probably 
been  also  a  withdrawal  of  some  species  and  the  substitution  of 
others.  Of  some  species,  which  abounded  when  the  country  was 
new,  an  individual  is  now  seldom,  or  ever  seen  ;  while  other  spe 
cies,,  which  were  then  unknown,  have  been  exceedingly  common. 
The  American  Crossbill,  (Loxa  curcirostria)  and  red-headed 
Woodpecker,  (Picas  crythrocphalus^)  may  be  mentioned  as  ex 
amples  of  the  former,  and  the  Cliff  Swallow,  (Hirundo  fulva,} 
of  the  hitter.  Forty  years  ago,  as  I  well  remember,  the  red-headed 
Woodpecker  was  one  of  the  most  common  birds  in  our  forests ; 
but  is  now  so  rare  that,  while  I  have  traveled  extensively  over 
the  State,  I  have  hardly  seen  half  a  dozen  in  the  last  20  years. 
On  the  other  hand,  I  cannot  learn  that  a  Cliff  Swallow  was  ever 
seen  in  Vermont  till  about  the  year  1817  ;  but  they  now  swarm 
in  hundreds,  about  the  eaves  of  barns  in  various  parts  of  the 
State. 

While  the  species  of  the  two  higher  classes  of  the  vertebrata  of 
Vermont  are,  generally,  the  same  as  in  the  other  New  England 
States,  the  case  is  quite  different  in  regard  to  the  reptiles  and  fishes  ; 
so  much  so,  that  in  reference  to  these,  the  Western  part  of  Ver 
mont  clearly  belongs  to  a  different  Zoological  district  from  the 
eastern,  and  from  the  other  parts  of  New  England.  The  dividing 
line  between  these  districts  is  along  the  summits  of  the  Green 
Mountain  range,  which  separate  the  waters  falling  into  Connecti 
cut  river  from  those  which  are  tributary  to  the  St.  Lawrence. 
The  reptiles  and  fishes  found  in  Vermont  to  the  eastward  of  this 


72 

line,  are  sucli  as  are  common  in  other  parts  of  New  England,  while 
those  found  to  the  westward  of  it,  are  generally  different,  corres 
ponding,  for  the  most  part,  with  the  fauna  of  Western  New  York. 
Of  the  reptiles  foiind  in  the  western  part  of  Vermont,  which  are 
not,  so  far  as  I  am  informed,  found  to  the  eastward  of  the  Green 
Mountains,  may  be  mentioned  the  E-niys  geographica^  the  Trion- 
yx  ferox,  the  liana  horiconenses  and  the  Menobranchus  ma- 
cidatus.  Our  Ribbon  Snake,  if  identical,  as  it  probably  is,  with 
the  Coluber  Sauriter  of  the  eastern  part  of  New  England,  often 
far  exceeds  in  length  the  measurement  of  this  species  usually  giv 
en  in  books. 

But  the  fishes  on  the  two  sides  of  this  dividing  line  differ  even 
more  than  the  reptiles.  The  whole  number  of  species  of  Vermont 
fishes  is  about  fifty.  Of  these  more  than  forty  species  are  pretty 
well  determined  ;  and  of  those  determined,  not  more  than  four  or 
five  are  common  to  the  two  sides  of  the  Green  Mountains.  There 
are  perhaps  seven  or  eight  species,  which  are  found  on  the  east 
side  of  the  mountains  and  not  on  the  west,  and  at  least  thirty  spe 
cies  on  the  west  side,  which  are  not  found  in  any  Vermont  waters 
on  the  east  side  :  and  more  than  twenty  of  these  thirty  species 
are  not,  so  far  as  I  am  informed,  found  in  any  other  New  Eng 
land  waters.  Of  these  twenty  or  more  species  not  found  to  the 
southeastward  of  western  Vermont,  six  belonging  to  the  Perch 
family,  four  to  the  Salmon  family,  three  to  the  Herring  family 
two  to  the  Pike  family,  tivoor  more  to  the  Carp  family,  one  Cottus 
one  Corvina,  one  Catfish,  one  Eel,  and  one  Sturgeon. 

The  Mollusca  of  Vermont  have,  by  the  labors  of  Prof.  G.  W. 
Benedict  and  Prof.  C.  B.  Adams,  been  pretty  thoroughly  examin 
ed;  but  hardly  any  attention  has  been  given  to  the  other  classes 
of  our  invertebrated  animals;  There  are  I  believe,  a  few  species 
of  fresh  water  Mollusks,  in  Lake  Champlain,  which  have  been 
found  nowhere  else,  and  a  considerable  number  of  species  which 
are  not  found  to  the  eastward  of  the  Green  Mountains.  One  of 
these  last,  is  the  Limnsea  nugasoma ;  and  the  only  known  locality 
of  this  species  in  Vermont  is  in  Burlington,  where  they  have  some 
times  been  found  plentifully  in  a  few  small  creeks  in  low  stages  of 
the  water,  but  from  which  it  is  feared  they  will  soon  be  extermina 
ted  by  the  drying  up  of  the  creeks,  in  consequence  of  their  having 
become  exposed  to  the  sun  and  winds  by  the  removal  of  the  forest 
trees  and  shrubbery  which  protected  them. 


APPENDIX  VIII. 


Resolution  to  set  apart  a  room  in  the  State  House 
for  the  State  Naturalist. 


OCTOBER  18,  1855. 


Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  That 
the  Sergeant-at-Arms  be  and  is  hereby  directed  to  set  apart  and 
prepare  the  committee  room,  numbered  fourteen,  for  the  use  of  the 
State  Naturalist,  for  the  deposit  and  arrangement  of  the  speci 
mens  collected  and  to  be  collected  in  the  Geological,  Botanical  and 
Zoological  Survey  of  the  State. 


10 


APPENDIX  IX, 


Contents  of  the  proposed  Volumes, 

BY  ZADOCK  THOMPSON. 

NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  VERMONT, 

VOL.  I.-GEOLOGY  OF  VERMONT. 

PART  I — SCENOGRAPHIC  GEOLOGY, 

Aspect  of  the  Country. 

Mountains. 

Hills. 

Water  Sheds. 

Vallies. 

Chasms. 

Caves. 

Springs. 

Streams. 

Ponds. 

Lakes. 

Swamps. 

PART  II — SCIENTIFIC  GEOLOGY. 
General  View  of  the  Vermont  Rocks. 
Age  of  Vermont  Rocks. 
Order  of  Succession. 


76 

Description  of  the  Champlain    group,  and  characteristic 
fossils. 

Description  of  the  Potsdam  Sandstone. 
"  "       Calciferous  Sandstone. 

"      Isle  La  Motte  Limestone. 
"  "       Trenton  Limestone. 

"  "       Black  Shales. 

"       Dove-Colored  Limestone. 
"      Red  Sand-Rock  Series. 
Taconic  Rocks  : 

Sparry  Limestone, 

Taconic  Slates, 

Magnesian  Slates, 

Stockbridge  Limestone, 

Granular  Quartz. 
Brown  Iron  Ore  Series  : 

Silicious  Limestone, 

Quartz, 

Kaolin, 

Lignite. 
Green  Mountain  Rocks : 

Talcose  Slate, 

Clay  Slate, 

Chlorite  Slate, 

Green  Mountain  Gneiss, 

Mica  Slate, 

Steatite, 

Serpentine. 
Calcareo-Mica  Slate  Formation  : 

Clay  Slate, 

Silicious  Limestone, 

Mica  Slate, 

Hornblende  Slate, 

Silicious  Slate, 

Gneiss. 
Iff  neons  Rocks : 

Granite, 

Trap, 

Porphyry, 

Feldspar, 

Quartz. 


77 

Superincumbent  Formations : 

Drift  Formation  and  Phenomena, 
Erratic  Blocks,  Boulders, 
Gravel,  Sand, 
Moraines, 

Pleistocene  Formation, 
Brown  and  Blue  Clays, 
Fossils  of  the  Pleistocene. 

Mammals,  Elephos,  Belaga,  Equus. 

Shells,  Mya,  <fcc. 

Woods. 
Modern  Formations : 

Marl  and  Muck  Beds, 
Alluvion. 


PART  III — MINERALOGY. 

General  Notice  of  Vermont  Minerals. 

Catalogue  of  Minerals. 

Description  of  Minerals  and  Localities. 


PART  IV — ECONOMICAL  GEOLOGY. 
Building  Materials: 

Granite, 

Gneiss, 

Limestone, 

Marble, 

Quick-Lime,  Water-Lime. 
Serpentine, 
Steatite, 
Slate, 

Clay,  Roofing,  Writing,  Pencils,  Flagging  and  Tiling. 

Mica,  &c.,  Flagging. 
Clay  and  Sand, 

For  Bricks,  Fire  Bricks,  Pottery. 
Kaolin,  for  Pottery,  Paper,  &c., 
Sand,  for  Glass,  Moulding, 
Earths,  Ochres,  Paint,  &c. 


78 


Metallic  ores  and  Mining- : 
Iron, 

Manganese, 
Copper, 
Lead, 
Silver, 
Gold, 
Zinc, 
Cadmium. 


NATUEAL   HISTORY   OF  VERMONT. 


VOLUME  II.— BOTANY. 


Preliminary  Remarks. 
PART  I. — CLIMATOLOGY  AND  METEOROLOGY. 

Temperature,  Elevation — Comparison : 
Rain, 
Snow, 
Hail, 
Fog, 

Range  and  Changes  of  Temperature, 
Phenomena  of  Lake  Champlain, 
Anchor  Ice, 
Meteors,  Rainbow, 
Aurora  Borealis, 
Thunder  and  Lightning. 


PART  II. — SCIENTIFIC  BOTANY. 
Catalogue  of  Indigenous  and  Naturalized  Plants. 
Woods  of  Vermont,  Shade  Trees, 
Shrubs  of  Vermont, 

Berries,  Ornamental  Shrubs, 

Shrubs  useful. 
Herbaceous  Plants. 


PART  III. — AGRICULTURE. 


Varieties  of  Soil, 
Analysis  of  Soils. 


80 

Mineral  Manures  : 
Muck, 
Marl, 

Clay, 

Sand, 

Gypsum. 
Artificial  and  Organic  Manures  : 

Dung, 

Ashes. 
Field  Crops: 

Grasses, 

Wheat, 

Eye, 

Oats,  Peas, 

Barley, 

Maize, 

Potatoes,  Pumpkins, 

Turnips,  Beans, 

Carrots, 

Beets. 
Garden  Crops  : 

Cabbages,  Cauliflowers, 

Onions, 

Parsnips, 

Tomatoes,  Beans, 

Horse  Radish, 

Rhubarb, 

Celery, 

Lettuce, 

Radish. 

Tree  Fruits  : 

Apple, 

Pear, 

Plum, 

Cherry, 

Peach, 

Quince. 


81 

Shrub  Berries  : 

Currants, 

Gooseberries, 

Raspberries, 

Barberries. 
Vinous  and  Herbaceous  Fruits  : 

Grapes, 

Strawberries. 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  VERMONT. 


VOLUME  III.— ZOOLOGY, 


Preliminary  Chapter". 
Vertebrated  Animals  : 

PART  I — MAMMALIA — QUADRUPEDS. 
Catalogue  of  Vermont  Quadrupeds, 
Native — Introduced. 

PART  II — ORNITHOLOGY — BIRDS. 
Introductory  Remarks, 
Catalogue  of  Vermont  Birds, 
Wild — Domesticated. 

PART  III — HERPETOLOGY — REPTILES. 

Introductory  Remarks, 
Catalogue  of  Vermont  Reptiles. 


82 

PART    IV — ICTHYOLOGY — FISHES. 
Introductory  Remarks, 
Catalogue  of  Vermont  Fishes. 

Invertebrated  Animals. 

PART  V — ARTICULATA — ARTICULATED  ANIMALS. 
Insects, 
Remarks, 

Catalogue  of  Vermont  Insects, 
Descriptions  of  Insects,  Injurious, 
Myriapeds, 

Spiders,  Arachnoidians. 
Crustaceans, 
Annelidians. 

PART  VI — MOLLUSCA,  SHELLS. 
PART  VII — RADIATA. 


APPENDIX  X. 


The  true  Valus  of  Chemical  Analysis  of  Soils, 

BY    DR.    JOHN    D.    EASTER,  OF  BALTIMORE. 


[From  the  Journal  of  the  N.  S.  Agricultural  Society,  1856. 

It  is  not  Ion*  since  the  practical  farmer  sneeringly  derided  the 
value  of  book  learning  and  stubbornly  resisted  the  interference 
of  scientific  men,  in  what  he  considered  a  purely  practical  bus 
ness.    But  that  feeling  seems  to  have  passed  away,  and  even  those 
who  still  refuse  to  acknowledge  the  value  of  scientific  researches 
upon  the  composition  of  the  soil,  and  its  relation  to  the  functions 
of  vegetation,  are  not  slow  to  avail   themselves   of  the  benet 
which  others  have  derived  from  them.     Indeed  we  have  reason  to 
fear    that  scientific  superstition  has  taken  the  place   of  scientit 
incredulity,  and  the  farmer  now  expects  as  much  too  much  from 
chemistry,  as  he  formerly  expected  too  little.    The  result  of  these 
overwrought  expectations  is,  naturally,  disappointment,   and  the 
deluded  farmer  throws  the  blame  of  his  failure  on  science,  and  is 
more  than  ever  determined  to  adhere  to  his  old  ways. 

I  propose,  in  this  paper,  to  consider  the  true  use  of  chemical 
analysis'  of  soils,  and  some  of  the  requisites  of  a  valuabl 

analysis.  .  e 

As  it  is  from  the  soil  that  plants  derive  the  principal  part  of 
their  constituent  elements  the  presence  in  the  soil  of  these  ele 
ments,  iu  P-rms  in  which  they  may  be  absorbed  by  the  rootlets  of 
the  plant.;  and  assimilated  in  their  cells,  is  indispensable  to  their 


84 

perfect  growth.  Where  the  want  of  fertility  arises  from  the  ab 
sence  of  one  or  more  of  these  constituents,  or  their  being  locked 
up  in  combinations  in  which  plants  cannot  use  them,  chemical 
analysis  is  perfectly  competent  to  detect  the  cause  of  the  evil 
and  point  out  its  remedy. 

But  the  growth  of  plants  is  influenced  by  a  multitude  of  other 
circumstances  to  which  chemical  analysis  can  furnish  no  clue.  A 
soil  may  abound  in  all  the  elements  of  a  very  fertile  one,  and 
yet  be  perfectly  barren.  The  soil  of  the  great  Colorado  desert 
in  California,  which  I  have  recently  analysed,  furnishes  a  good 
example  of  this.  It  possesses  in  abuud.inco  every  element  neces 
sary  to  extreme  fertility,  but  is  entirely  barren  from  the  want  of 
water. 

The  reverse  of  this  also  frequently  occurs.  The  chemist  re 
ceives  a  specimen  of  soil,  in  the  chemical  constitution  of  which  he 
can  detect  no  deficiency,  and  in  his  laboratory,  he  can  assign  no 
cause  for  its  alleged  unproductiveness.  An  examination  of  the 
locality  probably  shows  him  that  it  is  underlaid  by  a  stiff  tena 
cious  subsoil,  which  retains  an  excess  of  water,  and  no  provision 
has  been  made  for  drainage. 

The  difference  in  the  mechanical  texture  of  stiff  and  loose  soils 
is  familiar  to  every  one.  The  fertility  of  many  stiff  clays  may  be 
seriously  impaired  by  ploughing  too  wet,  rendering  them  tough 
and  impenetrable  to  the  tender  rootlets  of  plants.  In  this  case, 
as  no  chemical  change  takes  place,  the  chemist  in  his  laboratory 
would  seek  in  vain  for  the  cause  of  the  difficulty. 

Every  attempt  to  improve  the  character  of  a  soil  must  therefore 
be  preceded  by  a  judicious  consideration  of  its  mechanical  texture, 
its  power  of  absorbing  and  retaining  water,  and  its  capacity  for 
heat.  Hence  it  is  important  that  the  agricultural  chemist  should, 
if  possible,  himself  examine  the  locality,  in  order  fully  to  esti 
mate  the  wants  of  the  soil.  The  employment  by  evciy  State,  of 
an  agricultural  chemist,  who  should  visit  in  person  every  part  of 
the  State,  is  therefore  strongly  to  be  recommended. 

In  the  next  place  it  is  requisite  that  an  analysis  of  the  soil,  in 
order  to  be  of  much  value,  should  be  thorough.  It  mast  include 
separate  estimations  of  the  parts  soluble  in  water  and  in  acids, 
and  the  insoluble  portion.  For  the  portion  soluble  in  water  rep 
resents  what  is  available  for  the  wants  of  the  growing  crop, 


85 

while  the  portion  soluble  in  dilute  acids  is  the  index  of  what  may 
by  decomposition  become  the  food  of  plants.  This  undecomposed 
portion  of  the  soil  may  often,  by  the  application  of  lime,  ashes, 
and  other  caustic  manures,  be  more  speedily  decomposed  and  ren 
dered  available. 

The  analysis  should  include  also,  if  possible,  the  sub-soil,  as 
well  as  the  surface  soil,  in  order  to  guide  the  farmer  in  the  pro 
cess  of  deepening  his  soil.  There  are,  of  late,  many  advocates 
of  indiscriminate  deep-plowing.  But  a  fertile  soil  may  be  under 
laid  by  a  barren  sub  soil,  by  throwing  up  large  quantities  of 
which  the  fertility  of  a  field  may  be  destroyed  for  years.  The 
sub-soil,  not  unfrequently,  contains  large  quantities  of  protoxide 
of  iron  and  other  substances  which  are  injurious  to  vegeta 
tion  until  they  have  been  subjected  to  the  action  of  the  atmos 
phere.  On  the  other  hand,  the  sub-soil  often  contains  elements 
of  fertility  which  are  not  so  abundant  in  the  surface  soil,  in 
which  case,  deep  plowing  will  improve  both.  It  is  important 
that  the  agriculturist  should  know  these  differences  in  order 
that  he  may  know  where  he  should  plough  deep,  and  where 
refrain. 

A  still  more  important  consideration  is,  that  no  analysis  can  be 
of  any  value  to  the  farmer  who  is  not  himself  a  chemist,  unless  it 
be  accompanied  by  a  discussion  of  the  indications  it  affords,  and  a 
recommendation  of  suitable  means  of  improvement.  Our  agri 
cultural  journals  and  reports  abound  in  analyses  which  are  about 
as  intelligible  to  the  unscientific  farmer  as  the  inscriptions  on  the 
pyramids,  or  a  chapter  from  La  Place's  Mechanique  Celeste. 
Most  of  our  intelligent  farmers  know  that  lime,  phosphoric  acid, 
and  the  alkalies,  play  important  parts  in  the  economy  of  vegeta 
tion,  but  few  of  them  have  any  idea  how  much  of  each  of  these  val 
uable  ingredients  is  requisite  to  fertility,  or  what  are  the  best 
means  of  supplying  their  deficiency.  Until  every  farmer  is  also 
a  chemist,  an  analysis  of  a  soil  or  manure  which  is  not  followed  by 
a  commentary  on  its  defects  or  virtues,  leaves  him  just  where  the 
diagnosis  of  a  disease,  without  a  prescripton  for  its  relief,  leaves 
the  patient.  He  is  no  wiser  nor  better  oif  than  before.  It  will 
not  do  to  presume  that  when  the  chemist  pronounces  what  a  soil 
contains,  the  argiculturist  will  know  what  it  ought  to  contain,  and 


86 

how  to  supply  its  wants.     Every  farmer  should  insist  upon  an  in 
terpretation  of  the  analysis  furnished  him  by  the  chemist. 

In  conclusion,  I  would  call  your  attention  to  the  duty  of  the  in 
telligent  agriculturist  to  acquire  a  theoretical  knowledge  of  so 
much  chemistry  as  relates  to  his  profession,  that  he  may  Le  ena 
bled  to  judge  for  himself  of  the  value  of  a  substance  from  the 
chemical  analysis  of  it,  and  also  of  the  probable  value  of  the  analy 
sis  itself,  for  at  least  one  half  of  the  analyses  which  farmers  daily 
pay  for  are  absolutely  unreliable  and  worthless.  The  agricultur 
ist  should  also  he  able  to  judge  for  himself  of  the  texture,  moisture 
and  C'jlor  of  the  soil,  and  the  means  within  his  reach  of  modifying 
them.  At  the  same  time,  I  would  by  no  means  advise  that  he 
should  attempt  to  become  a  practical  chemist  and  do  his  own 
chemical  analysis,  as  some  persons  of  more  zeal  than  judgment 
insist  lie  may.  I  have  pointed  out  the  necessity  for  thoroughness 
in  chemical  examinations  of  the  soil,  and  every  one  who  has  had  on 
ly  a  few  month's  experience  in  a  laboratory  knows  that  a  thorough 
analysis  of  a  soil  requires  much  time,  great  care  and  dexterity  in 
manipulation,  and  a  knowledge  of  all  the  disturbing  influences  and 
sources  of  error.  This,  fewihrmetfl  have  the  time  or  opportunity 
to  acquire,  and  few  would,  for  the  sake  of  making  the  few  chemical 
examinations  they  might  in  their  life-time  require,  be  willing  to 
devote  to  the  study  time  which  might  be  so  much  better  spent  in 
acquiring  a  practical  knowledge  of  their  own  noble  profession. 
Besides  this,  the  expense  of  fitting  up  a  laboratory  would  more 
than  pay  for  all  the  analyses  any  farmer  is  likely  ever  to  need.  The 
liiiiny  formulas  which  have  been  proposed  for  the  use  of  farmers 
are  there  fore  of  very  doubtful  utility.  Let  every  fanner  make  a 
laboratory  of  his  barn-yard,  and  carefully  collect  and  employ  all 
the  liquid  as  well  as  solid  manures  within  his  reach  and  if  the 
chemist  is  not  euriehcd  thereby,  his  fields  will  be." 


APPENDIX  XI. 

Commission 

FKOM    AUGUSTUS    YOUNG,    STATE    NATURALIST, 
TO   ALBERT    D.   HAGER. 


To  ALBERT  D.  HAGER,  ESQ.,  Proctorsville,  Vt.  : 

SIR  :  Upon  the  suggestion  and  recommendation  of  several 
prominent  citizens,  and  reposing  special  trust  in  your  ability,  fidel 
ity  and  taste,  I  hereby  appoint  you  Assistant  State  Naturalist  and 
commission  you  accordingly : 

You  will  proceed  to  Burlington,  and  by  enquiry  and  examina 
tion,  ascertain  the  number  and  condition  of  the  minerals  and  fos 
sils  and  other  specimens  there  collected  by  the  late  State  Natu 
ralist,  and  take  all  the  instruments  and  tools  and  other  property 
belonging  to  the  department  of  the  Geological  Survey  into  your 
custody.  The  specimens  and  all  said  property  you  will  send  to 
the  State  House,  and  arrange  them  in  their  proper  apart 
ment. 

You  will  arrange  in  room  number  fourteen,  a  proper  cabinet  of 
minerals,  fossils,  &c.,  taking  especial  care  to  present  the  speci 
mens  in  such  a  scientific  order  as  you  may  deem  most  appropri 
ate  and  attractive,  and  place  all  surplus  specimens  designed  for 
colleges  and  other  institutions  of  the  State,  as  well  as  for  exchange, 
in  their  proper  place  in  room  number  thirty  seven. 

All  specimens  are  to  be  numbered  and  marked  with  their  com 
mon  and  scientific  name,  and  the  labels  on  each  should  indicate  its 
locality  and  by  whom  collected  or  presented.  The  Catalogues 
prepared  by  Professor  Adams  and  Thompson  will  be  entrusted  to 
you  for  your  aid  while  attending  to  this  branch  of  your  duties. 

You  will  make  an  inventory  of  all  specimens  arranged  in  number 
fourteen  and  of  such  as  are  stored  in  number  thirty-seven,  taking 
pains  while  packing  and  unpacking  to  avoid  all  accident,  and  also 


88 

at  all  times  to  prevent  all  losses  of  rare  specimens  by  fire,  accident 
or  otherwise 

You  will  make  a  detailed  report  of  your  doings  as  soon  as  may 
be,  that  I  may  submit  it  with  a  communication  I  propose  to  make 
to  His  Excellency  the  Governor,  taking  pains,  if  you  please,  to 
embrace  in  your  said  report  such  facts  and  practical  suggestions 
as  you  may  deem  appropriate. 

AUGUSTUS  YOUNG, 

State  Naturalist. 

ST.  ALBANS  BAY,  Sept.  20,  1856. 


ERRATA. 


On  page  19,  for  "  Professor  Gardner  Vanuxem,"  read  Professor 
Lardner  Vanuxem. 


14  DAY  USE 

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